Transavantgarde, also known as Transavanguardia, represents the Italian manifestation of Neo-expressionism, an art movement prevalent across Italy and Western Europe during the late 1970s and 1980s. The designation transavanguardia was formulated by Italian art critic Achille Bonito Oliva, first introduced at the "Aperto '80" exhibition during the Venice Biennale, and translates literally to beyond the avant-garde.
This artistic movement emerged as a reaction to the proliferation of conceptual art, which had embraced diverse expressive media, by revitalizing painting and reintroducing emotional depth, particularly joy, into drawing, painting, and sculpture. Transavantgarde signified a resurgence of figurative art and mythic imagery, both of which experienced renewed prominence during the movement's peak. Practitioners of the movement revitalized figurative art and symbolism, elements that had seen diminished use in post-World War II movements such as minimalism. Key Transavantgarde artists included Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Mimmo Germanà, Nino Longobardi, Nicola De Maria, and Mimmo Paladino.
In 1982, the works of Chia, Cucchi, and Longobardi were featured in the exhibition "Italian Art Now: An American Perspective" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
- Achille Bonito Oliva (1980). Italian Transavantgarde, Milan: Politi Editore.
- Achille Bonito Oliva (1982). Transavantgarde International, Milan: Politi Editore.
- Ida Gianelli (2002). Transavantgarde, Milan: Skira.