Luigi Filippo Tibertelli was born in Ferrara, Italy, on May 11, 1896. He took his nickname from his grandfather Filippo Tibertelli de Pisis. As a boy he studied painting under Odoardo Domenichini and in the early 1910s he wrote various articles for several magazines. In 1915 de Pisis encountered the de Chirico brothers in Ferrara; he also met Giorgio Morandi, Carlo Carrà and Alberto Soffici. Even though he was more inclined towards literature than the visual arts, he became an enthusiast member of the Metaphysical School. In 1916 he moved to Bologna to study Italian literature at the university. In 1919 he met Giovanni Comisso, who would become one of his closest friends. In 1920 he moved to Rome and had his first solo show at the Casa d’arte Bonuglia. In 1925 he moved to Paris and he showed his work at the Biennale di Belle Arti, Rome. In France he was influenced by Eugène Delacroix, Édouard Manet and Chaïm Soutine and he met Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau and André Derain. He became part of the Paris School and frequented the group of Italian artists established in the city. In 1926 he was selected for the Venice Biennale—exhibiting uninterruptedly thereafter— and for the Prima mostra del Novecento italiano, where he would feature again in 1929. In 1931 he entered the Quadriennale, Rome, where he would continuously exhibit until 1955. In 1933 he showed his work in Florence, Milan and Vienna, and he travelled to London, Bruges and Amsterdam. In 1935 he spent some time in London with the painter Vanessa Bell. In 1937 he exhibited in Paris and Berlin and in 1938 he visited London again. In 1939 the war compelled de Pisis to return to Italy, settling in Milan in 1941. In the early 1940s he exhibited in Milan, Florence and Genoa, and he associated with Orfeo Tamburi, Renato Guttuso and Fiorenzo Tomea. During the war his studio was destroyed by bombings so he took up residence in Venice. In 1948 he moved again to Paris, where he started showing signs of the nervous illness that prevented him from working in his late years. In 1951 he was awarded the Roma Prize and had a retrospective in Ferrara. He painted his last works in 1953, and in 1954 he received the Marzotto prize for painting. De Pisis died in Milan, Italy, on April 2, 1956. The 1956 Venice Biennale held a retrospective exhibition of his œuvre.