Umberto Boccioni can be described as a lot of things, an intellectual or perhaps a pioneer, but nostalgic is not one of the words you would ever associate with this scrappy Italian artist.

Umberto Boccioni’s life, just like his art, was always on the move. By the time he was 16, he had already lived in six cities and shortly after, his taste for travel became almost insatiable, bringing him to every corner of Europe and allowing him to cross paths with some of the greats, such as Pablo Picasso.

Umberto Boccioni is known as the poster child for the Futurist art movement. This avant-garde movement was largely concerned with ousting antiquity and embracing the brash fast paced machine-driven modern world. Out with the old and in with the new was the ruling ideology of the Futurists, and when Boccioni met the founder of this new budding movement just a hot second after the manifesto was created, he signed the Futurist document and dedicated his artistic life to bringing down classic Italy along with libraries, museums, and feminism. Feel free to cringe.

Umberto loved the rowdy nature of the Futurists who utilized some unorthodox tactics to snap people out of the antiquated slumber such as screaming politically charged rhetoric at crowds in hopes of inciting riots. A wallflower he was not.

Boccioni was a huge fan of World War I as he saw in the anarchy of war the potential to rip Italy out of their complacent stupor. Boccioni gladly enlisted to fight for the cause. Little did he know, this would probably be one of the worst decisions of his life, for he was trampled to death by his own horse shortly after joining. Some consider Boccioni’s untimely death to be one of the main forces that brought the Futurist movement crumbling to the ground, only to be remembered as a thing of the past. Ouch!