Study for The City Rises

Study for The City Rises is a powerful preparatory drawing created by Umberto Boccioni in 1910. Executed using Conté crayon, charcoal, and chalk on paper, this work demonstrates the Italian artist’s rapidly developing technique as he moved toward the formalization of the Futurist movement. In this crucial period, Boccioni sought to capture the dynamic energy and inherent violence of the modern industrial city, consciously rejecting traditional, static representations of urban life.

Boccioni utilized the expressive properties of his dry media to create intensely vigorous, crisscrossing lines, suggesting overwhelming structural chaos and explosive force. The composition is highly kinetic, depicting fragmented masses of laborers, construction elements, and horses struggling within the confines of a growing metropolitan environment. Unlike his earlier Divisionist experiments, the work emphasizes fluid motion, simultaneously depicting multiple phases of action—a core tenet of the nascent Futurist aesthetic articulated in the manifestos of the time. The piece captures the feeling of immense pressure exerted by mechanical and human forces as the urban landscape transforms itself. This comprehensive study anticipates the monumental scale and heightened color palette of the subsequent 1911 oil painting, The City Rises, showing the foundational structural decisions Boccioni made regarding the distribution of energy and movement.

The drawing is considered a crucial record of Boccioni’s transition into high Futurism, capturing his obsession with velocity, industrial might, and sensation. This piece, dated precisely to 1910, demonstrates the speed and urgency with which the Futurists worked to redefine art for the modern, mechanical age. It currently resides in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognized internationally as a key example of modern Italian drawing. Although the original resides securely in the museum, the enduring influence of Boccioni's work ensures that high-quality prints and scholarly references are widely available, securing its place within the broader sphere of accessible public domain knowledge for modern art scholars.