Sandro Chia
A painter who reinvigorated Italian art with mythic, muscular figures, leading the charge of the Transavanguardia back to expressive storytelling.
Born 1946 (age 80)·Italian painter and sculptor·Birthday: April 20·Baby Boomers
Biography
In the late 1970s, when conceptual and minimalist art dominated, Sandro Chia and his cohorts staged a riotous, colorful rebellion. He became a standard-bearer for the Transavanguardia, a movement that championed a return to painting, figuration, and raw emotion. Chia's canvases are instantly recognizable: populated by heroic, often clumsy figures drawn from myth, art history, and his own imagination, rendered in thick, passionate strokes and vibrant, unexpected colors. His work feels both ancient and contemporary, borrowing the gravity of a Renaissance fresco and the impulsive energy of a comic strip. Based for years in New York during the art boom of the 1980s, Chia achieved international fame, his paintings celebrating the sheer, unapologetic pleasure of the painted image and helping to reopen the door for narrative in serious art.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Sandro was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Sandro Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Sandro's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
2026Turned 80
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Was a principal figure in the Italian Neo-Expressionist movement known as the Transavanguardia in the late 1970s and 1980s.
- Had major solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions like the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
- Created large-scale public sculptures and bronze works that extend his figurative style into three dimensions.
- His work is held in the collections of museums worldwide including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London.
Did You Know?
He studied at the Istituto d'Arte in Florence and later at the Accademia di Belle Arti.
He lived and worked for an extended period in New York City's SoHo district during the height of his fame.
He owns and operates a vineyard and winery, Castello Romitorio, in Montalcino, Tuscany.
In 2005, he was made a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
“Painting is a way of reasoning with the eyes, a way of thinking in images.”
