Biography
In his early years of activity, Cagli made famous murals and experimented with neo-cubist and metaphysical painting. In 1946 he won the Guggenheim prize, and in 1954 the Marzotto prize. Some of his first exhibitions in Italy were at the Rome Art Gallery and at the Milan Triennale in 1936. Here Cagli presented the Battle of San Martino, which has been in the Uffizi since 1983. Cagli also exhibited in New York, at Comet Gallery, in the late thirties. He returned to New York during the Second World War, which made him flee Europe. He later became a US citizen, fighting for the US. The experience of the Nazi concentration camps inspired his later work. After the end of the war, Cagli returned to Rome, his artistic homeland, and here he experimented with his informal works. In August 1972 he was officially commissioned to paint the Palio di Siena, the prize for the equestrian competition. His first murals are located on a building in via Sistina and in a hall in via del Vantaggio, in Rome.