Giuseppe Capogrossi (Rome, 1900 – 1972) graduated with a degree in Jurisprudence from La Sapienza University in 1922, though he had always nurtured a strong interest in painting. After initially studying under Gianbattista Conti, he enrolled in Felice Carena’s Free School of the Nude in 1923, where he formed lasting friendships with Fausto Pirandello and Emanuele Cavalli.

In the 1930s, he spent extended periods in Paris, where he was deeply influenced by the works of Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Inspired by their artistry, he developed a figurative style marked by tonalism and a profound appreciation for classical tradition.

In 1927, he took part in his first group exhibition at the Hôtel Pensione Dinesen in Rome, alongside Emanuele Cavalli. That same year, he also participated in Collettiva no. 144 at the Bragaglia Art House. In 1928, he was among the artists selected for the XVII Venice Biennale.

In 1933, Capogrossi co-authored the Manifesto of Plastic Primordialism with Cavalli and Melli, which was followed in December by a group exhibition at the Bonjean Gallery in Paris. The show was reviewed by the critic Waldemar George, who first referred to the group as the École de Rome—later known as the Roman School, a term used to identify artists who had developed an original and universal language while maintaining strong local and national roots.

In 1940, Capogrossi held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria San Marco in Rome, marking the beginning of a decade defined by profound artistic crisis. During this period, he gradually abandoned tonalism, briefly explored Neo-Cubism, and ultimately turned toward complete abstraction and the centrality of symbolism in his work.

This second artistic phase, centered on the exploration of the symbol in painting, was first publicly revealed in a 1950 exhibition at the Galleria del Secolo in Rome. His new approach, based on the use of a form-sign treated almost like a verb within various spatial arrangements, was soon featured in exhibitions at the Galleria del Milione in Milan and the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice.

While in Milan, Capogrossi met Mario Ballocco, with whom he began a collaboration that led, in 1951, to the founding of the Origine group, alongside Alberto Burri and Ettore Colla. That same year, he took part in the international exhibition Véhémences Confrontées in Paris, curated by Michel Tapié.

Several major international exhibitions and recognition followed: in 1952–53, he participated in the traveling exhibition Younger European Painters, curated by James Johnson Sweeney for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 1955, he was included in the group show The New Decade: 22 European Painters and Sculptors at the Museum of Modern Art, during which one of his works was acquired by the museum’s collection.

In 1958, Leo Castelli dedicated a solo exhibition to Capogrossi at his gallery in New York. A decade later, Palma Bucarelli, then director of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, devoted an entire room to Capogrossi’s works.

The artist passed away in Rome on October 9, 1972.