Ugo Celada da Virgilio

Ugo Celada da Virgilio (1895-1995) was an Italian painter, focused on portraiture, still lifes and the female form.

Early life Born in Cerese di Virgilio, a small town near Mantua, Ugo Celada da Virgilio’s extraordinary talent for drawing was evident from a young age. By twelve, he was enrolled at the Royal School of Applied Art in Mantua, and later, thanks to a scholarship, he attended the Brera Academy in Milan. Once the war had ended, he devoted himself to pictorial research, making an important educational trip to Paris where he encountered European artistic influences.

Initially associated with the Novecento movement, Celada’s career took a sharp turn in 1931 when he denounced the group in an anti-Novecento manifesto, criticizing their alignment with Fascist cultural monopolies. Celada’s work has since been recognised in the art world as an important example of artistic integrity in the face of political and cultural conformity.

Recently, his work featured in an exhibition at the Labyrinth of the Masone on the work of the forgotten painter.

His works are at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. The municipality of Borgo Virgilio has dedicated a section in the Virgilian Museum to him.