Futurism

PurplePrice Mag · October 26, 2026 · 3 min read

Futurism is the first great Italian avant-garde and one of the most influential of the twentieth century. Founded in Milan by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, it rejected the past, museums and tradition in order to celebrate speed, the machine, electricity and the modern city. More than any other movement of its time, Futurism wanted to bring art into every aspect of life: which is why it is also fundamental to the history of design.

The 1909 manifesto

The Manifesto of Futurism appeared on 5 February 1909 in the Gazzetta dell'Emilia and on 20 February 1909 on the front page of Le Figaro in Paris. It contained statements designed to shock, such as the claim that a racing car is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. Marinetti was soon joined by the painters Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini and the musician Luigi Russolo, who invented a music made of noises. Dozens of manifestos followed: on painting, sculpture, music, theatre, fashion, cooking. Between 1912 and 1914 the architect Antonio Sant'Elia drew the New City (Città Nuova), a metropolis of skyscrapers, lifts and stacked roads conceived as an efficient machine: it was never built, but it influenced architects and film-makers throughout the century.

Reconstructing the universe

In 1915 Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero signed the manifesto Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe: art should leave the picture frame and transform everything, toys, furniture, clothes, household objects. Balla furnished his home in Rome with furniture painted in bright colours and dynamic lines. In 1919 Depero opened the House of Futurist Art in Rovereto, a workshop producing toys, tapestries and furniture in the Futurist style. In 1920 Thayaht designed the TuTa, a one-piece T-shaped garment, simple and cheap, to be made at home: traditionally considered the origin of the Italian word tuta for overalls and tracksuits.

Graphics and advertising

Perhaps the Futurists' most lasting contribution was to graphic design. With his "words in freedom" Marinetti broke up the traditional page: type in different sizes, slanting lines, onomatopoeia. In 1927 Depero published Depero futurista, the famous "bolted book", bound with two metal bolts. Between 1925 and 1939 he also created many advertisements for Campari, and in 1932 he designed the conical Campari Soda bottle, still in production today and a symbol of Italian design. In 1930 the Futurists even launched a manifesto of Futurist cooking, proposing sculptural dishes and declaring war on pasta.

Legacy

Futurism paid a high price in the First World War, which it had glorified as "the world's only hygiene": Boccioni and Sant'Elia both died in 1916. After the war the movement became tied to Fascism, which long overshadowed its role. But its idea that art should enter everyday life, its passion for technology and speed, and its dynamic graphics influenced the other avant-gardes, Russian Constructivism, Italian Rationalism and modern advertising.