Silvio Polloni was born on the 14th of January 1888 in Florence, where he lived and worked throughout his life. He trained initially in the decorative arts and later enrolled at the Free School of Nude at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. After serving in the First World War from 1915, he briefly turned to music before devoting himself fully to painting from the mid-1920s onwards.
Deeply tied to his native city, Polloni developed a distinctive artistic language rooted in the Tuscan Macchiaioli tradition, later evolving towards a more personal style influenced by Impressionism. He was known particularly for his evocative depictions of the Arno riverbanks, Tuscan landscapes, still lifes, and quiet interior scenes, earning him the affectionate nickname ‘Il pittore di Bellariva’ (from the name of the neighbourhood in Florence where Polloni used to live and work).
He exhibited widely in Italy and abroad, participating in numerous editions of the Venice Biennale (1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1936) and the Rome Quadriennale (1931, 1935, 1939, 1943, 1948). He also took part in several editions of the Premio Fiorino in Florence, the Milan Triennale, and many regional exhibitions during the 1950s and 1960s.
Polloni’s works are held in major Italian collections, including the Galleria d’Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi in Florence, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, the Museo ‘Firenze com’era’, the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, and other public institutions such as the Galleria Civica di Latina and the Premio Suzzara collection.
Aside from painting, he was also active as a ceramist and poet, and was a member of the ‘Antica Compagnia del Paiolo’, a traditional Florentine society of artists and intellectuals.
Silvio Polloni died on the 18th of May 1972 in Florence.
