Franco Beraldo was born in 1944 in Meolo, a small town in the province of Venice. While still a boy, he moved with his family to Mestre, where he currently lives and works. In 1963 he began painting, influenced by abstract art and inspired by Byzantine icons. His work carries a faintly early-20th-century atmosphere, where objects often appear suspended in a metaphysical dimension. Among other techniques, he experimented with fresco painting and, within a few years, became one of the most appreciated and original interpreters of that approach. In the early 2000s Beraldo felt the need to abandon some of his customary expressive forms and turned toward increasingly abstract, rarefied, and indefinite themes — at the same time exploring new expressive materials. This exploration led him to work extensively with Murano glass: he began collaborating with prominent Murano glass masters and personally produced glass plates that were then fused, and in some cases blown or submerged. His experimentation with glass is considered part of a continuing effort to evolve his language while contributing to the living tradition of Venetian artistic glass. Throughout his career, Beraldo has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in both public and private galleries. Highlights include participation in the exhibition of submerged glass at the International Glass Museum in Montegrotto Terme (Padua) in 2012, winning the Murano Prize 2012 in the Furnace category, a solo Murano-glass show at the Hangzhou International Design Festival in China (2013), and again winning the Murano Prize in 2014 (Furnace). He has been included in exhibitions such as “Murano Oggi” at the Murano Glass Museum (2016) and several shows connected to Venice Glass Week, which have featured his recent investigations with submerged and blown glass techniques. In October–November 2018, the Civic Museums of Venice dedicated an exhibition to him at the Candiani Cultural Center in Mestre. More recent solo exhibitions include shows at the Civic Museum of Art in Pordenone and at Palazzo Bottagisio in Villafranca di Verona (2021), a solo at PoliArt Gallery in Milan (February 2022), and a solo at the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation (Palazzetto Tito) in Venice in September–October 2024.
