Art is the intensification of life
— Mario Merz
Mario Merz (1925–2003) was a pivotal figure in postwar European art and a foundational voice in Arte Povera. Born in Milan and based primarily in Turin, Merz came to artistic maturity during a period of profound social and political upheaval. In 1943, he left medical studies to join the anti-fascist resistance group Giustizia e Libertà. Arrested the following year, he began to draw intensively while in prison, developing an approach in which line functioned as a continuous, unbroken gesture—an early signal of his lifelong interest in energy, accumulation, and organic growth.
Merz’s first solo exhibition was presented in 1954 at Galleria La Bussola, Turin. By the mid-1960s, he had moved decisively beyond painting, incorporating everyday objects such as bottles, umbrellas, and raincoats into works punctured by neon light. This materially direct and conceptually expansive language aligned Merz with the group identified by critic Germano Celant in 1967 as Arte Povera, a term that underscored the radical use of humble materials and the dissolution of boundaries between art and life.
Merz held his first exhibition with Konrad Fischer Galerie in 1970. Around this time his most iconic motifs emerged: the igloo form—realized in materials from metal and glass to clay, stone, and organic substances—and the Fibonacci sequence, rendered in neon. Together, these structures and numbers articulate a vision of natural growth, circulation, and shelter, oscillating between interiority and outward address, and reflecting Merz’s enduring engagement with habitation, nomadism, and the permeability of architectural, social, and energetic systems. Their installation across diverse contexts, from the Mole Antonelliana in Turin (1984) to the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1971), made these works both sculptural environments and expansive spatial propositions.
Merz' first solo museum show in the United States took place at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in 1972, followed by a major retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1989, and a survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the same year. Additional significant presentations include those at Museum Folkwang, Essen (1979); Kunsthalle Basel (1975, 1981); Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1979); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1980); Kunsthaus Zürich (1985); and Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1990). More recent institutional projects include Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice (2015); Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2018–19); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2019–20); and the Dia Art Foundation’s survey at Dia Beacon (2020).
Merz participated in documenta four times (1972, 1977, 1983, 1992). His work is represented in leading international collections, including Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. He received the Praemium Imperiale for sculpture in 2003.