Discover the Artist
Elisabetta Rogai

Elisabetta Rogai was born in Florence and began painting at the age of nine. She first exhibited her work in 1970, then reappeared consistently on the art scene in the early 2000s. That long pause allowed her to refine an expressive style that marries lyrical sensitivity with a solid structural base. Her portraits, figures and nudes exist in a timeless realm, poised on turbulent, vibrant grounds as if each presence could encompass every before and after, every story and every moment of peace—whether sought, lost or won. In 2001 she opened her first solo show at the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella in Florence. This was followed by exhibitions in Florence, Pietrasanta in Lucca, Lugano in Switzerland, and participation in Le Salon des Artistes in Cannes, France. She then mounted three more solo exhibitions at Palazzo Borghese in Florence, the Capri Palace Hotel on Capri, and the Palagio di Parte Guelfa in Florence.
Next came the solo show “Riflessioni” at Gran Caffè Quadri in Piazza San Marco in Venice and at the Chiostro di Sant’Agostino in Pietrasanta. In 2005, the Municipality of Florence chose her to represent the city at the 40th anniversary of its twinning with Kyoto, Japan, where she exhibited once again. She went on to show at Palazzo Crispi in Naples and Galleria Schubert in Milan, and her work has traveled abroad to the United States, Hong Kong, Greece, Lithuania, Venezuela and China. Alongside her traditional practice, Rogai has produced frescoes, including a commemorative mural for the 70th anniversary of the Air War School in Florence in 2008. In 2011 she introduced EnoArte, a technique of painting with wine, and has performed live painting events in public spaces and the cellars of major Italian wineries. In 2014 she presented “Molta follia suprema saggezza” at Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence. In 2015 she painted the drappellone for the Palio di Siena and was named Academician of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence. In 2016 she became the first artist to paint with wine on Carrara marble during her solo exhibition “Donne Oltre” at Galleria Open Once in Pietrasanta, and later showed “Oltre le Stelle” at Art Dynasty Gallery in Forte dei Marmi and “Nell’Anima” at the Magazzini del Sale in Siena. In 2018 she received the Caterina de’ Medici Prize for Artistic Merit at Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Rogai lives and works between Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.