A group of Italian artists formed the Futurist movement in the early twentieth century in reaction to fast-moving pace of modern life. The poet Filippo Tommasso Marinetti officially launched the movement with the publication of The Futurist Manifesto in 1909— a manifesto which urged the reader to embrace the forward thrust of youth, violence, and industry. Speaking of art, Marinetti wrote, “Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without aggressive character can be a masterpiece.” The Futurists embraced the progress of technology in the form of airplanes, trains, and the formation of large urban centers, while rejecting the legacy of the past. A sense of Italian nationalism pervaded much of their work. They asserted that Italy had for too long dwelled on the past, and through their radical ideas, the country could become a leader in the twentieth century.

Futurist artists included Umberto Boccioni, Giocamo Balla, and Gino Severini, who produced paintings, prints, and sculptures that clearly displayed the movement’s fetishization of speed. Perhaps the most iconic Futurist work is Boccioni’s bronze sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913), which shows a human form in motion, its dynamic posture revealing the path of the body through space. Futurists were influenced by Cubism and Post-Impressionism, absorbing the lessons of those movements while creating their own bold, brash style. Futurist art had an important influence on later stylistic developments, notably the Art Deco design movement.