Born in Turin, where he studied at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, Giacomo Balla moved to Rome at an early stage of his career, where he began working as an illustrator, portrait painter and caricaturist. His artistic language developed through his engagement with Pointillism and Divisionism, from which he drew a particular interest in the effects of light and movement. His work was exhibited in Rome and Venice, as well as at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. Balla also exerted a significant influence on artists such as Umberto Boccioni and Gino Severini, with whom, in 1910, he signed the Manifesto of the Futurist Painters and the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting. He continued to devote himself to painting and sculptural compositions, exhibiting in Europe and the United States throughout his career.