Emilio Vedova – a politically engaged Venetian artist who believed that revolutionary art had to be abstract – is regarded as one of the most influential Italian artists of the second half of the 20th century. He joined the Milanese anti-fascist group Corrente in 1942 and co-signed the Oltre Guernica manifesto in Milan in 1946, which urged artists to engage with reality while moving beyond figuration. His expressive strokes and smears of paint convey a raw and violent reaction to the political reality of the post-war period. He pushed painting into new territories with his visceral and gestural works that engage the viewer and redefine the space they inhabit.

In the late 1950s, Vedova was associated with French Informel and later with Action painting and the resurgence of expressionism, yet he has always defied categorisation. Largely self-taught, he learned to draw and paint by sketching Venetian churches and frescoes, particularly those of Tintoretto who was a key inspiration to the artist throughout his career. Although Vedova split his time between Venice and Berlin for many years, his work remained anchored in the city of his birth and its painting traditions. His paintings from the 1950s and 1960s were sensitive to contemporary political developments, such as Franco's nationalist regime in Spain and the revolutionary protests across Europe in 1968.