Gino Severini was an Italian painter best known for his role as an integral member of the Futurist movement along with Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, and Carlo Carrà. In his work Severini used elements of both Pointilist and Cubist techniques to abstract forms of places and figures, giving his subject matter a sense of dynamic energy. The artist once wrote, “I would like my colors to be diamonds and to be able to make abundant use of them in my pictures so as to make them gleam with light and richness.” Born on April 7, 1883 in Cortona, Italy, he attended classes at the Rome Fine Art Institute and had private classes with various instructors. He then moved to Paris in 1906 and came into contact with artists like Raoul Dufy, Juan Gris, and Georges Braque. Though he joined the Futurists, Severini later regretted his involvement in the group, realizing the folly of its provincial ideas and obsession with war and technological progress. After 1916, the artist distanced himself from Futurism and focused on achieving harmony and utilizing classical ideas of proportion in his work. Severini died on February 26, 1966 in Paris, France. Today, his works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery London, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam, among others