Umberto Boccioni

The Charge of the Lancers 

Artist: Umberto Boccioni

Media: Tempera and collage on pasteboard

Dimensions: 50 x 32 cm

Date: 1915

Umberto Boccioni was an Italian artist born in 1882. As a child his parents moved him all around Italy, until eventually settling in Catania Sicily. Umberto traveled to Rome and enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts, there he trained under Giacomo Balla who was a popular Divisionist painter. Umberto later became a major contributor to the Futurist art movement. Though mostly a painter, in 1911 Umberto became interested in sculpture, after being introduced to cubism style of art. More info

"Nothing is absolute in painting. What was truth for the painters of yesterday is but a falsehood today." - Umberto Boccioni

Umberto Boccioni’s The Charge of the Lancers is a very interesting piece. It depicts foot soldiers with bayonets, in their futile attempts to fend of enemy soldiers on horseback. The horses are powerful and dominate the space. The jagged shapes in the collage give a sense of violence and motion. The foot soldiers are destined to be trampled under hooves. This one of the last pieces that Umberto produced. Ironically in the start of the First World War, Umberto joined the army and during training was tossed from a horse and trampled to death.