Michelangelo Pistoletto was born in Biella in 1933. His artistic journey commenced within his father’s studio, a painter and restorer, where he began working at the age of 14. Later, he attended a public graphic advertising school directed by Armando Testa. In 1955, he began exhibiting the results of his exploration into self-portraiture, which characterized his early paintings during the latter half of the 1950s. In the early 1960s, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria Galatea in Turin, concurrently creating life-sized self-portraits on monochromatic backgrounds in gold, silver, and copper.
In 1961, Michelangelo Pistoletto embarked on the creation of a series titled Il presente while in 1962, he refined the technique for his Quadri specchianti which debuted at the Galatea Gallery in 1963. Throughout the 1960s, Pistoletto’s solo exhibitions were hosted by prestigious galleries and museums across Europe and the United States. In 1964, he showcased his works at the Sonnabend Gallery in Paris, followed by exhibitions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1966, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels in 1967, and the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam in 1969. In 1964, Pistoletto presented a group of works titled Plexiglass at the Sperone Gallery in Turin. Between 1965 and 1966, he produced and exhibited a series of works called Oggetti in meno within his studio, which are considered foundational to the emergence of Arte Povera, a movement in which Pistoletto played a leading role. Additionally, from March 1967 onward, he engaged in actions outside traditional exhibition spaces. The following year, he participated in the Venice Biennale and published the Manifesto della collaborazione.
Between 1975 and 1976, Michelangelo Pistoletto conceived Le stanze at the Stein Gallery in Turin — a work intended to unfold over the course of a year, divided into twelve consecutive exhibitions. This marked the inception of a series of intricate works, each evolving over a year and termed “continents of time,” such as Anno Bianco in 1989 and Tartaruga felice in 1992. In March 1978, he held an exhibition at the Persano Gallery in Turin, showcasing two fundamental directions in his research and subsequent artistic production: Divisione e moltiplicazione dello specchio and L’arte assume la religione. During the same month, he embarked on a year-long residency in Berlin, hosted by DAAD, where he presented a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Nationalgalerie and thirteen public venues across the city. Throughout 1978-1979, he conducted a series of solo exhibitions, installations, and actions in various cities across the United States.
In 1981, he exhibited at the Salvatore Ala Gallery in New York La Natività and in the same year, he repurposed marble for large-scale works displayed at his solo exhibition held at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence. Between 1985 and 1989, he embarked on a new cycle of works titled the Arte dello Squallore exhibited at the Persano Gallery in Turin and the Pieroni Gallery in Rome.
In 1991, he was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, a position he held until 2000. During his tenure, he collaborated with his students on an innovative program aimed at breaking down traditional barriers between artistic disciplines. In 1994, he initiated Progetto Arte placing art at the forefront of socially responsible transformation. Four years later, he established the Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, housed in a disused factory in Biella, where the goals articulated in the Progetto Arte continue to be developed and implemented.
In 2000, the Paoli-Calmettes Marseille Oncology Institute inaugurated the Luogo di raccoglimento e di preghiera, a place of Recollection and prayer dedicated to multireligious and secular sentiments. In 2002, Michelangelo Pistoletto was appointed as the artistic director of the Biennale Internazionale Arte Giovane Torino, themed Big Social Game. The following year, he received the prestigious Leone d’Oro for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. Concurrently, during the same Biennale, he introduced Love Difference – Movemento Artistico per una Politica InterMediterranea. This project, conceived within Cittadellarte in April 2002, featured a large reflecting table in the shape of the Mediterranean basin, serving as the focal point for various activities under the Love Difference initiative. In 2004, Pistoletto announced the inception of a new phase in his artistic journey, termed the Terzo Paradiso symbolized by a reconfiguration of the mathematical infinity symbol.
In 2009, Michelangelo Pistoletto presented the performance and installation Twentytwo Less Two at the Venice Biennale, marking the beginning of a series of works centered around the breaking of the mirror. In 2013, the Louvre dedicated a solo exhibition to him titled Michelangelo Pistoletto, année un – le paradis sur terre. That same year, he was honored with the prestigious Imperial Prize for Painting in Tokyo. In 2014, during Italy’s six-month presidency, the symbol of the Terzo Paradiso was installed in the atrium of the Council of the European Union headquarters in Brussels. The following year, Pistoletto created a new work titled Rebirth on the grounds of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the headquarters of the United Nations Organization. In 2017, a reconfiguration of the Terzo Paradiso was selected as the logo for the VITA space mission. During this mission, astronaut Paolo Nespoli shared photos taken from space through the SPAC3 app, contributing to a collective planetary artwork. In 2021, Cittadellarte inaugurated the Universario, an exhibition space where Pistoletto presents his most recent research and artistic endeavors.
In total, Pistoletto has participated in thirteen editions of the Venice Biennale (1966, 1968, 1976, 1978, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2017) and four of the Kassel Documenta (1968, 1982, 1992, 1997). His works are held in major national and international, private and public collections, such as the Chicago Art Institute, the Uffizi Gallery, the British Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Prada Foundation, the MADRE Museum, the Met and MoMA, the Kröller-Müller Museum, MAXXI and the MART.