Pierre Ambrogiani

Coming from a modest family, Pierre Ambrogiani (1907-1985) left Corsica with his family for Marseille in 1908. From a young age, he showed a talent for art by drawing and modeling clay figurines.

Encouraged by his friends André Malraux and Louis Aragon, he left his job as a postman in 1937 to dedicate himself entirely to painting. His work, often characterized by vibrant colors, led him to be associated with the expressionist movement. Later, his painting evolved towards figurative abstraction, marked by a simplification of forms.

From the beginning, his talent was recognized, first in his region, where he founded, along with other Provençal painters like Antoine Serra and François Diana, the first regional cultural center, thus becoming a popular figure in Marseille.

He participated in the Salon d’Automne in 1937 and exhibited his works in numerous collective exhibitions of contemporary French art from 1948 to 1980, in Marseille, Toulouse, Paris, but also outside of France in cities such as New York, London, Oxford, Philadelphia, or Zurich.

Over the years, he gained an international recognition for his work on the landscapes of Provence and the colors of the South, through still-life paintings, portraits, nudes, landscapes, and vibrant still lifes.

Ambrogiani also illustrated literary works, such as “Les bucoliques” by Marcel Pagnol in 1947, who would become his friend, and “Ma destinée s’achève à l’aube” by Alexandre Toursky in 1958.

He is also remembered for his frescoes and stained glass in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Marseille.