Mauro Bergonzoli – Artist at the Edge of Light

November 2025 – Interview by Alexandra Bronckaers

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There are artists whose work you look at, and artists whose work you enter. Mauro Bergonzoli belongs unmistakably to the latter. His paintings radiate an emotional intensity that feels lived rather than constructed, an energy born of Milan’s visual discipline, the engraving workshop of his childhood, and a decade spent mastering immediacy inside the world of advertising.

Today, as he unveils Dolce Vita in Palm Beach, his palette is newly charged. The lines sharpen, the color deepens, the light turns inward. Bergonzoli paints with a form of emotional clarity that collapses joy, memory, sensuality, and rigor into a single gesture.

This conversation reveals the artist behind the radiance.

Origins

You were born in Milan, a city saturated with images and design. What did this city imprint on you before you even knew you would become an artist?

I’ve always felt I was born an artist, I began drawing before I could speak. Growing up in central Milan meant being surrounded by beauty, fashion, architecture, and culture, all of which shaped me continuously. The city trained my eye to notice tiny details, the kind most people overlook. Those observations still find their way into my paintings today.

Your father ran an engraving workshop. How did that early contact with tools, materials, and precision shape your visual language?

Engraving taught me discipline and respect for the line. The materials were expensive, and there was no room for error. I learned to work slowly, calmly, with a steady hand. Later, in comics, illustration, and advertising, this became a language. I skipped the pencil stage and went straight to ink. The influence of freehand engraving on silver is especially visible in my Venetian works.

What is the first image, or the first scene, you can look back on now and say, “That’s where it all began”?

My family didn’t have money, and gifts were rare. I was born on Christmas Eve, and on my second birthday, my father drew Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse directly on the wall next to my bed. I stared at them for hours, copying every line. That’s where it all began.

The advertising decade – A visual laboratory

You come from a world where images must be efficient, immediate, calibrated, and advertising. What did that school of speed and clarity bring to you as a contemporary artist?

It taught me that a single image must speak instantly. One glance, and the message has to stay forever. That discipline shaped the clarity of my compositions. Advertising was a laboratory where I learned speed, narrative power, and visual impact.

What was the exact moment, human or professional, when you knew you had to leave communication behind and return to pure creation?

September 11, 2001. Watching the Twin Towers fall, I felt the world change in real time. I knew the advertising world would change, too. In that moment, I understood I had to follow my true calling, to paint and transmit messages of beauty, humor, nature, positivity, and love.

The artistic gesture

Your lines are crisp, your compositions very structured. What draws you to this graphic clarity at a time when so many artists embrace ambiguity and blur?

Amo la chiarezza. I love clarity. My relationship to detail is intimate, almost sacred. And there is a personal reason, when I was a child, my mother lost one of her bright blue eyes to cancer and had it replaced with a glass eye. That left a deep imprint on me. The open blue eye became my artistic symbol, a reminder to stay awake, to see the world with innocence and intensity, like a child. I also connect this to my spiritual third eye, which guides me beyond what the physical eye can capture.

Clarity is emotional, almost spiritual.

When you start a piece, is it first an image, a rhythm, a color, or an emotion that triggers the gesture?

Emotion always comes first. It triggers the vision in my mind. Once I begin painting, I feel rhythm, like music. I listen to everything from classical to rock while I work. The colors come to me as I move. When a work is commissioned, collectors sometimes tell me which style they want, which characters from their life, which symbols matter to them, but the emotional spark remains the origin of everything.

The intimate and the symbolic

What part of your childhood still, consciously or not, finds its way into your work today?

All of it. The creativity I had as a child is still alive. I experienced a lot of violence growing up, and painting bright, joyful worlds helped me survive fear and sadness. I painted what I wished life could be. That vision still guides me.

I even created my own icon, the Magic Bunny, who pops into my paintings, saying, “I love it.” He represents humor, productivity, magic, irony, and above all, love.

Color, light, energy – Your aesthetic

You often speak about light, a kind of emotional light. What is your intimate relationship with it?

Light is life. Without it, nothing grows. Darkness only brings more darkness. I admire Caravaggio for the way he made light almost divine. I tattooed a smiling sun with my Bergonzoli Eye on my foot to remind myself of that daily. I wake early, greet the morning sun, and paint until daylight fades. Natural light gives my colors strength and luminosity. Emotionally, light is love, amore.

If you had to define the energy of your work, would it be “rising,” “explosive,” “contained,” “erotic,” or something else entirely?

My work is energizing. It transmits positive vibrations, beauty, light, and love. It can be erotic or sensual, playful or intense, but it always brings a pulse of joy.

The creative process

What does a day in your Bavarian studio look like? Is it routine, or a kind of organized chaos?

Mostly routine, and I love that. I wake early, drink espresso, and “download” the images that came to me during the night. My dreams feel like a computer offering multiple pathways for future paintings. Once the idea becomes clear, I go straight to the canvas.

Do you work on several pieces simultaneously, or are you monogamous in your creation?

I always work on several pieces. While one canvas dries, I move to another. I take breaks to play electric guitar, or to work in my Bavarian garden, my personal “Giverny.” After a heart illness a decade ago, nature became essential to my life. I went plant-based, cut alcohol, tobacco, and sugar, and created a vegan cookbook, Magic Food, with my lover and muse, Franziska.

How much space do you give to doubt, to accidents, to imperfection?

I never doubt. I trust my hand and my spiritual guidance completely. If something unexpected appears, I welcome it, there’s always a reason. Gianni Agnelli said, “There must always be one note out of tune.” I agree. Imperfection is a doorway to discovery.

Current exhibition – Palm Beach

You are currently exhibiting your solo show “Dolce Vita” at the Jennifer Balcos Gallery in Palm Beach (from November 6 to 28th, 2025). Every city imposes its own vibration on an artist. What is Palm Beach’s, and how did it influence the spirit of this exhibition?

Palm Beach brings us back to light, that tropical clarity that amplifies everything. It made my colors more vibrant, my subjects warmer, my brushstrokes brighter. I wanted viewers to feel the ocean breeze, the sun, and the delicious moments I paint.

In Palm Beach, your exhibition meets an extremely international audience. What do you hope they feel when entering Dolce Vita, and what would you like them to walk away with besides a painting, of course?

A vibration, something warm and new. I want them to feel energized, inspired, maybe even a little in love. I’d like them to leave with a fresh excitement for life.

The present and the future

Where are you today in your life as an artist, confirmation, mutation?

Always mutation. I evolve constantly. I know where I come from, and I’m even more excited about where I’m going. Curiosity pushes me forward.

What artistic territories would you like to explore over the next five years?

Whatever the universe brings. Dreams, new mediums, collaborations. I have exciting projects combining my art with products and design. Surprises are part of my DNA.

If you had to create a single piece that sums up your entire life, advertising, your father’s workshop, Milan, Bavaria, color, what would it look like?

Honestly? I’d have to sleep on it, my visions arrive at dawn. But the piece would hit like a flash, Milan’s sharp edges, the discipline of engraving, the violence and magic of childhood, the speed of advertising, the healing light of Bavaria. It would be raw, bright, funny, erotic, spiritual, alive. In truth, that piece already exists. Every canvas I paint carries my blood, my past, my scars, my joy. My art is my autobiography, but in color.

Visit my website for more info!

Read more from Alexandra Bronckaers