Alberto Martini Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Alberto Martini (Oderzo 1876 – Milan 1954) Forerunner of the surrealist movement, he was born in Oderzo on 24 November 1876. Visiting his house-museum in his hometown, one has the impression of being in front of a painter, but above all an illustrator , "French" in the most up-to-date sense of the term and also "Venetian" in the most disturbing sense of the term. Read the full biography

Alberto Martini (Oderzo 1876 – Milan 1954) Forerunner of the surrealist movement, he was born in Oderzo on 24 November 1876. Visiting his house-museum in his hometown, one has the impression of being in front of a painter, but above all an illustrator , "French" in the most up-to-date sense of the term and also "Venetian" in the most disturbing sense of the term. It is a sort of black violin that plays Vivaldi, his art, characterized by a very embryonic surrealism: shells and flowers alternate with a waltz of death and love that seem imbued with Nordic culture (he is in Paris in 1904). Certain surrealists draw from him more or less openly: Magritte and Delvaux. Magnificent and solemn rather than fluttering and liberty are his visions of a butterfly-woman and cheerful in the Harlequin of 1914, totally pure in the Self-portrait with Venice in the background. A notable portraitist: examples are that of the critic Vittorio Pica and Hans St. Lerche. A painter of the older and intelligent generation like Federico Zandomeneghi defines him as "of infinite imagination" although he does not hide the fact that he is "frightened" by it. He reaches the pinnacle of success with the theater on the water and is back in Paris in the 1920s until 1934. Certain lithographs are very modern, above all The Kiss of 1915. Harassed by financial problems, he takes up residence in Milan, where he dies in 1954.