Bruno Bruni, born in 1935 in Gradara near Pesaro on the Adriatic and based in Hamburg since 1960, is today the internationally best-known Italian artist in Germany. As a draftsman, lithographer, painter and sculptor, he has made himself known with his surreal figurations full of sensualism and the magic of lines. Bruni comes from a humble background. His father was a supporter of the labor movement, and the fight against fascism at the end of World War II was one of the experiences that shaped Bruni's political orientation. From 1953 to 1959 he attended the Instituto d'Arte in Pesaro and showed his works in exhibitions in Pesaro and Florence. After an exhibition in London, his path led him to the State University of Fine Arts in Hamburg in 1960. Here he found a formative mentor in Georg Gresko, who made a decisive contribution to his development. Bruni himself stated: "Without Gresko I wouldn't be what I am today." Gresko helped Bruni master the tension between Italian artistic tradition and influences of Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. After Georg Gresko's death in 1962, Bruni continued his studies with Paul Wunderlich , who taught him the technique of polychrome lithography.