This book was born from the need to understand Italian drawing as a fundamental starting point for the knowledge of 20th century art history. The drawing was an essential first step, an expressive means of choice for every artist, painter or sculptor.

Considering a wide range of techniques on paper (from watercolour, to collage, to crayon, to felt-tip pen), the drawing could be considered the skeleton of 20th-century art because it represents the first visualisation of an idea.

The drawing expresses creative immediacy and, in the most authentic way possible, offers a key to understanding the genesis and evolution of a style. It is the only expressive form that tells the way of an artist's work and its birth.

The works collected here belong to the Ramo Collection, the only collection in the world exclusively dedicated to the Italian drawings of the twentieth century, conceived to represent not only the great masters, but also hastily labelled artists who deserve to be reviewed in the light of the art of drawing.