Elio Bargagni

Elio Bargagni was born in Dicomano, Florence - Italy on 8 May 1930. He completed his artistic studies in the Tuscan capital under the guidance of maestro Campeggi. He dedicated himself to watercolor at a very young age, meeting the painters Scortecci, Ospitali and Ortino in the streets of Florence. Most of the paintings from that period were sent abroad, mainly to Austria and the United States. In 1962 he moved to the Veneto, where he was able to take picturesque views of Venice, the hills of Conegliano and Vittorio Veneto. In 1967 he moved to Lucca. In May 1977, after joining the Italian Watercolorists Association, he took part in the association's first major exhibition, held at the Palazzo del Turismo (ex Arengario) in Milan, together with the great artists: Raimondi, Zecca, Falzoni. They wrote about Elio Bargagni (Antonino De Bono, L'Acquerello in Italia, Milan): «He studied the lesson of the Macchiaioli in depth, giving life with his water painting to a personal interpretation structured in energetic juxtaposed patches that materialize with vigor the synthesis of form and color en plein air". Mario Marzocchi, attentive interpreter of the pictorial anxiety of the Tuscan masters: «The layout of a landscape or a still life is alw...

self-taught Student of maestro Silvano Campeggi.

Reference art critic Giuliano Pacifici
Elio Bargagni is an artist who I consider to be a true master in the art of watercolor, both for the technique and for his subjects which emerge alive with colors with an easy spontaneity from his brush. The balance of the masses which appear in a chromatic composure, give an impetus to the work which is influenced by the classic nineteenth-century school. Serene but not calm, impetuous but not aggressive, Bargagni's painting presents itself in a liveliness of light even when the sky is sullen. Honest artist aware of his value he is not brazen, but as a true artist he is shy.
Giuliano Pacifici

Over 100 personal and collective exhibitions in the years from 1974 to 2013. See all the details here. The archive is organized by year.