Antonio Ligabue: From Outsider to Visionary Painter

Antonio Ligabue, born in Zurich in 1899 to an Italian single mother, was recognized in 1901 by Bonfiglio Laccabue but soon entrusted to Johannes Valentin Göbel and Elise Hanselmann, a poor couple constantly moving for work. His difficult character and psychological distress led to his first hospitalization in a mental asylum in 1917 after a severe nervous breakdown, followed by a cycle of hospitalizations, escapes, and self-harm. Painting became his salvation from 1920 onward, eventually attracting the interest of artists, critics, and dealers. His work, characterized by a naive and expressionist style, depicts ferocious landscapes, vibrant flora and fauna, self-portraits, and fairy-tale scenes, balancing exact illustration with latent horror. In 1962, Raffaele Andreassi made a documentary about him, broadcast on TV only in 1977, capturing Ligabue's ritualistic painting process and his autistic representation of love. Ligabue died in 1965, three years after the documentary was filmed.