This text—included in the offprint “Elementos para una biografía” [Elements for a Biography] taken from the exhibition catalogue for Berni - Óleos y Collages [Berni: Oils and Collages]— points out the trajectory of Berni’s work through various artistic currents. The artist worked within Surrealism and Socialist realism; he passed through an intermediate stage during which he freed color, operating in an Expressionist manner; he had a brief period of abstraction until he achieved a synthesis in socially conscious art that was associated with Pop art procedures. 

Aldo Pellegrini (Rosario 1903–Buenos Aires 1973) was a distinguished poet, playwright, essayist, and art critic within Argentinean cultural circles. From the beginning, he was linked to the development of Surrealism, and he also directed various publishing projects. Pelligrini also supported and publicized various aspects of Abstract art, promoting some groups such as Artistas Modernos de la Argentina [Modern Artists of Argentina] and Asociación Arte Nuevo [New Art Association].  Antonio Berni was an Argentinean artist born in 1905 in the city of Rosario. He died in Buenos Aires in 1981. His artistic production included painting, engraving, and drafting as well as murals, graphic arts, cinematography, and the creation of both objects and installations. Toward the 1930s, Berni embraced Surrealism and afterward formulated his concept of “new realism,” founding the school-workshop Mutualidad Popular de Estudiantes y Artistas Plásticos de Rosario [The People’s Society of Students and Visual Artists of Rosario].  The exhibition catalogue for Berni – Óleos y Collages [Berni—Paintings and Collages] also included texts by Alberto Serebrinsky, Louis Aragon (1897–1982), José Viñals (1930), and Gérald Gassiot-Talabot (1929–2002). The text by Pellegrini is an extract from the book Panorama de la pintura argentina contemporánea [Panorama of Contemporary Argentinean Painting] (Buenos Aires: Paidós, 1967). This article was selected because it documents Pellegrini’s critical estimation of the magical aspect of Berni’s characters that, as the artist himself once stated, never gave up a certain surrealist touch.