Ernesto Gentilini

Ernesto Gentilini was born in Subiaco (Rome) in 1942. From a very young age, he felt a strong attraction to art. He traveled throughout Europe—France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England—where he encountered the masterpieces of the great masters of the past. In 1963, he returned to Italy. He studied in the workshops of Pericle Fazzini and Lamberto Ciavatta, and also met renowned figures such as Renato Guttuso, Antonio Vangelli, Ennio Morlotti, William Condon, writer Stefano D’Arrigo, and poet Salvatore Mercuri. He held his first solo exhibition in 1970 in Rome, at the Dante Alighieri Society headquarters. In 1972, he was hosted by the Cremona Proposte Gallery in Cremona. In 1973, he exhibited by invitation at the Museum of San Felipe Yaracuy (Venezuela). In 1983, he presented new works at the exhibition hall in Metz, France. From 1988 to 1995, he curated the iconography for Alitalia’s in-flight magazines Ulisse 2000 and Arrivederci. In 1996, he held an exhibition at the Municipal Library of Subiaco, his hometown. In 2004, he exhibited at the Limonaia of the elegant Villa Fidelia in Spello (Perugia); in 2015, he was a guest at the Castle of Santa Susanna (Barcelona). In 2017, his works were shown at the exhibition hall in San Vito Romano. In 2019 and again in 2022, he exhibited in Ochsenhausen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In 2021 and 2023, he showcased his work at the Caietani Castle in Trevi nel Lazio. His artworks are held in the Museum of San Felipe Yaracuy (Venezuela), the “Sagrada Familia” Museum in Barcelona (Spain), and in numerous private collections. He currently lives and works in the Altipiani di Arcinazzo, near Rome. Ernesto Gentilini’s work moves along a subtle boundary between reality and memory, where painting becomes a tool for introspection rather than mere representation. While his compositions may appear figurative, they are deeply infused with emotional meaning, tied to memories and inner perceptions. His figures—solid, almost archaic—seem to rise from the earth itself, connected to a landscape that is as much mental as it is physical. His use of color, refined and symbolic, supports a narrative in which nature and spirit blend together. The result is a quiet yet powerful form of painting—one that does not shout, but rather suggests, inviting the viewer into an intimate dialogue suspended between vision and emotion.