Biography

Paolo Gheri was born in Florence in 1940. He now lives in a village in the Sienese countryside. After secondary school, he attended the University of Florence where he obtained a degree in Pedagogy and Psychology, and teaching diplomas in Speech Therapy and Art.
He qualified as a primary schoolteacher, and soon afterwards he became a Headmaster in various Tuscan schools. During his career he held numerous courses for art teachers and for adults interested in painting techniques. He also gave lectures on the ‘reading’ of paintings, and on the Old Masters of Sienese and Florentine schools, as well as on watercolours.
He started drawing and painting from an early age; in 1962 he attended life drawing classes at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and from 1962 to 1964 he also trained privately under the artist and art tutor Carlo Capezzuoli in Poggibonsi.
He has published two books on art education and numerous essays, articles and reviews have appeared in learned journals. He still actively contributes to art periodicals.
His paintings and watercolours are held in private collections in Italy and abroad.
It practice various techniques, but mainly uses pure watercolor to express itself, experimenting with various types of cards that considers the essential base of this type of painting. In recent years he also dedicates himself to the china drawing finished in watercolor. His favorite subjects are the landscapes that prefers painting from the truth in the Sienese Crete or obtaining them from photos that he himself takes during the explorations of the Sienese countryside. His ideal masters and points of reference since the youth are Paul Cézanne and Giorgio Morandi. In recent years, his favorite subjects have been great fantastic and symbolic landscapes made of china and watercolor on paper, with references to the great masters of the past such as Dürer, Bosh, Brueghel, Piero Di Cosimo and others. His works are found at numerous private collections in Italy and England.

Bibliography

Watercolors and drawings, Giuseppe Ciani, artist, writer, Siena 1990

Presentation of an exhibition, Gianfranco Staccioli, University of Florence, 1991

The watercolors of Paolo Gheri, Luciano Lepri, art critic, writer, Perugia, 2002

Art Pordenone, Artemide Studio D’Arte, 2003

Contemporary artists and poets, edited by U. Bertoni, Scartabellando, Perugia, 2003

Boè promoter of creativity, art diffusion center, Palermo, 2003

Notes on the production of Paolo Gheri, Claudia Corti, Colle Val D’Elsa, 2004

Artistic avant-gardes 2005, Art diffusion center, Palermo, 2005

One hundred voices. Collection of artists and poets, edited by L. Lepri, Città di Castello, 2005

Euroarte, Art Culture News Periodical; Lecce, year IX, n.3, 2006; year IX, n.4, 2007

Boè promoter of creativity, Year IV, n.5, Centro diffusion of art, Palermo, 2007

Art’in progress, Taormina, 2008

Catalog of quotations 2009-2010, Alba Modern Art Gallery, Ferrara, 2010

IAF 2010 Internet Art Fair, Galleria Alba, Ferrara, 2010

Pages of Art 2010, Italian Art Yearbook, Magna Grecia, Albanella, 2010

International Contemporary Artists, vol. II, ICA Publishing, New York, 2011

Resetting the Tuscan landscape, Valentina Olivastri, writer, Oxford 2013

Paolo Gheri’s watercolors: an appreciation, Diego Zancani, University of Oxford, 2015

Contemporary artists of Siena and its territory, edited by F. Borghini, Signa, 2015

Original Italian and foreign 19th century and modern engravings. Watercolors and drawings, Catalog n.260 (2019 – 2020), Prandi Antiquarian Bookshop, Reggio Emilia, 2020

Artists of Siena and its territory, curated by Fabrizio Borghini and Lucia Raveggi, introduction by Carlo Pizzichini, Toscana Cultura, Florence, 2021