Emilio Tadini, painter, humanist, writer, art critic, poet and dramatist, journalist and intellectual died just a few days ago at his home in Milan at the age of 75. A ‘milanese doc’, Tadini started work as a painter in the fifties, which right from the start he carried out alongside his work as a writer and poet – his literary break was in 1947 with a short poem published in the magazine “Politecnico” by Elio Vittorini.

His first one man show was in 1961 at the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice, the first of a long series of exhibitions in both Italy and abroad, in both public museums and private galleries. He was twice invited to the Venice biennale, in 1978 and 1982 and in 1986 there was an extensive retrospective of his work at the Rotonda della Besana and last spring an anthology at the Palazzo Reale in Milan. Writer also for the Corriere della Sera in 1997 Emilio Tadini was nominated president of the Accademia di Brera.

In 1963 he published his first book “Le armi, l’amore”, which was to be followed by numerous others – “L’Opera”, “La lunga notte”, “La Tempesta” – up until his last, still at the draft stage. To be published in October by Einaudi it tells of the frenetic voyage of a group of five people around Italy’s nightlife, hanging out in the trendiest clubs, continually challenged by the “Great Void”. The title “Eccetera” sounds a little like the last ‘ironic’ play on words of a great man.

And, just a few days after his death, other signs of affection and appreciation have been shown. The association Amici del Museo di Tel Aviv chose him as "Man of the Year 2002", and the President of Regione Lombardia proposed to entitle the future Design Museum in Milan after Tadini's name.