Francesco Lo Savio enjoyed a brief artistic career before committing suicide in 1963 at age twenty-eight. From 1959–63, he pursued important research involving monochrome painting and primary structures, anticipating the work of the American Minimalists. While his art was perceived to be of fundamental importance during those years, his work has maintained its status only within a restricted circle of artists, dealers, and critics. Pop art—particularly in Rome, where Lo Savio worked—seemed to erase even the memory of anything different.

While four years of activity are admittedly not many, the