Nicola Simbari (1927-2012)

Italian painter Nicola Simbari was born in San Lucido, Calabria and this beautiful area greatly impacted his Mediterranean paintings: the blues of the ocean and sky and the bright hues of the flowers.

His family moved to Rome when he was young and his father worked there as a Vatican architect.

Rome's art masterpieces so impressed Simbari that, by age 13, he decided to study art and enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti. He opened his first studio in Rome at 22 years of age. Simbari's early works featured scenes from his childhood - gypsies, cafes, fishing villages and the Italian countryside.

He saw success almost immediately, and shortly after a one-man show in London, he was commissioned to paint murals for the Italian Pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. His show "Le Cirque", reflected the same excitement on his canvasses as is felt at an actual circus.

The show was highly acclaimed in Paris, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. "When I paint, I'm like a writer", Simbari states, "I must have something to say. My paintings are like entries in a diary because they are all reactions to things I have seen or felt".

Simbari's works can be found in numerous museums and private and corporate collections around the world. His paintings are in collections including the Bank of Tokyo and the Christian Dior Collection in Paris; Italian State Railways in Rome; Liberty Company in London; and Tulsa Bank of Commerce, Cincinnati Fine Arts Department, Exxon Corporation, General Mills Corporation and Pepsico, in America.

Mediterranean landscapes and paintings of contemporary European life are usually Simbari's subjects, although he also paints scenes of the Southwest.

"There's terrific drama in the desert. It's mysterious and magical, and the most dramatic natural sculpture I've ever seen". Simbari's canvases are filled with color and emotion.

Nicola Simbari (1927-2012) fu un pittore Italiano, maestro dell'impressionismo astratto.

Nato a San Lucido, Calabria, Nicola Simbari è cresciuto a Roma, dove suo padre era un architetto per il Vaticano. Ha studiato presso l'Accademia delle Belle Arti di Roma e nel 1940, si dedicò' alla pittura in uno studio in Via del Babuino nel centro di Roma.

Cominciò a sviluppare uno stile distinto che deriva dalle impressioni della vita, della natura e del Mediterraneo, impressioni che astrattamente si riflettono nei colori prettamente vivaci ed appassionato del suo lavoro.

L'originalità, la visione commerciale ed edulcorata dell'arte moderna astratta di Simbari ha portato la sua arte per mostre a Londra e New York dal 1950, consolidando la sua reputazione internazionale.

Utilizzando colori mozzafiato e favorendo dei toni brillanti, Simbari dipingeva con una spatola, raggiungendo grande profondità con questa tecnica. I dipinti di Simbari sono pieni di luce ed energia.