Giuliano Ghelli

Giuliano Ghelli was an Italian painter and sculptor. A self-taught artist, his journey began with Informalism before drawing inspiration from Pop Art and Surrealism in figurative forms. He lived and worked in the Chianti region of Florence. In 2015, the Civic Museum of San Casciano Val di Pesa was named in his honor.
As a teenager, he studied with the Salesians. A pivotal encounter in 1962 with painter Alfredo Picchi led him to frequent the Galleria Numero, run by Fiamma Vigo in Florence. There, Ghelli discovered a cultural hub frequented by artists and intellectuals such as Gian Carlo Oli, Eugenio Miccini, Piero Santi, and Luigi Baldacci.
Ghelli made his debut in 1963 at the Galleria Numero in Milan, participating with two paintings in a group show of eight artists. He continued to exhibit in Vigo’s galleries in Venice and Florence through the late 1960s.
In 1972, Ghelli signed a contract with the Sangallo Gallery in Florence. The following year, he won a scholarship sponsored by the Municipality of Florence for young artists and developed a friendship with art photographer Stefano Giraldi, whose portraits of Ghelli appeared in several catalogs and publications from that period.
In February 1974, Ghelli opened his first solo exhibition in Milan at the Nuovo Sagittario gallery. A month later, he held his first solo show abroad, at the Faculty of Arts (Maison des Lettres) of the University of Paris. Also in 1974, Ghelli debuted in Northern Europe with an exhibition in Luxembourg.
In 1975, his works were exhibited in New York at Queens College and, in early 1976, in Los Angeles at the Bernstein Gallery. That same year, Ghelli participated in the 10th edition of the Rome Quadriennale with three paintings.
To his symbolic language of the 1970s—featuring hills, robots, numbers, and signs—he began adding envelopes, houses, and cypress trees.
In 1990, Ghelli initiated a painting cycle inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, culminating in October 1992 with a solo show titled In Viaggio con Leonardo (Traveling with Leonardo), organized by the Municipality of Milan in the Treasure Hall of the Sforza Castle.
From 2002, Ghelli collaborated with art critic Maurizio Vanni on exhibitions and projects, including L’eco del sogno (The Echo of the Dream, 2002) and Il cappello e la creatività (The Hat and Creativity, 2005). With Vanni, he also published the monograph Giuliano Ghelli – Le vie del tempo (The Paths of Time, 2005).
In 2009, he was commissioned by the Municipality of Siena to create the Palio banner for August 16th, dedicated to the canonization of Bernardo Tolomei. The race was won by the Priora della Civetta (Owl) Contrada.