Futurism began in the public eye when in 1909 a French newspaper called "Le Figaro" published the first Futurist manifesto. Written by the Italian, Fillipo Tommaso Marinetti who was the movements founding and only member of that time.

Within a year Marinetti gathered a group of painters around him. Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo and Gino Severini all co-signed the Manifesto of Futurist painting. Futurism was defined by its many manifestos ranging from War to Lust and not only included painting but also literature, poetry, architecture, product design and cinema.

Futurism was political in origin; its initial driving force was a backlash to Italy's backward social, cultural and administrative situation. Italy was a new country formed in 1861 and in this way still trying to catch up with the rest of Europe. The Futurists wanted to drag Italy into the 20th century and felt the best way to do this was for Italy to enter the First World War. Unfortunately Futurism initially supported Fascism and this tainted the movement after the Second World War. Though wanting to be the official art of Fascism even the Fascists didn't take them seriously preferring the Novo cento artists. Though Futurism's ties with Fascism allowed the movement to survive the Reign of Mussolini.

Futurism wanted to show and create movement and achieved this in some highly innovative ways. During the 1910's Futurist art was grounded in an "analytical" phase full of experimentation. In the late 1910's Futurism entered a "synthetic" stage where the artists tried to interpret in paint their manifestos.

There was a fascination with speed and dynamism suited to the more mechanised age. They wanted to show contemporary subjects in a contemporary fashion and achieved this in the paintings in 5 main ways.

Abstract light and colour - The analysis of light and its movements captured on canvas. An example of which is Balla's Street Lamp.
Movement and speed - The analysis of movement and representation of speed on canvas. Examples of which are Balla's Dog on a Leash and Abstract speed.
The plastic dynamism of form - The idea that form is fluid and so are its movements. Examples of which are Boccioni's Dynamism of a man's head and the sculpture Unique forms of continuity in space.
The fluid movement and merging of subjects - Where one subject of the piece merges with another one. An example of which is Boccioni's The Street enters the house.
The shattering or prism like effect borrowed from Cubism - Examples of which are Severini's The Blue Dancer and The Boulevard.

At the start of the First World War the Futurist painters went their separate ways. Carrà left the movement before the war, which was to claim Boccioni and seriously wound Russolo. Severini remained in Paris though isolated from his native Italy. Balla and his student Fortunata Depero continued to work through the War.

In the 1920's there was a new influx of young talent bringing new ideas. This was also a very politically active period with Marinetti vying for Futurism to become the official art of Fascism. In this time there was also the growth of independent Futurism based movements such as Vorticism and the Cubo-futurist movement in Russia.

After 1925 the next two decades saw a growth in the numbers of Futurists however most of these were just copyists and Futurism was seen to be old fashioned by the new young artists. The war had made the speed of the automobile and plane too familiar. However the movement was not finished and The Second Futurism of the 1920's and 30's saw a change in direction.