The Corrente Group was an anti-fascist association of young Italian artists founded in Milan in 1938 by Renato Birolli (1906-1959). The group did not pursue a fixed programme, but opposed the art movements of the conservative Novecento that were close to the regime. Stylistically, the artists were resolutely oriented towards expressionist pictorial forms and made reference to the Scuola Romana, as well as to European artists such as Vincent van Gogh, James Ensor, Chaim Soutine, Pablo Picasso and movements such as the Fauves, Nabis and the Brücke. The members stood up for the defence of modern art at a time when the Nazi campaign against degenerate art was spreading in Italy.
