Having moved to Rome, Sironi attended the school of nude studies at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1903 to 1905. He joined the Futurist movement and took part in the group exhibition at the Galleria Sprovieri, Rome, in 1914. He held his first solo show at the Casa d’Arte Bragaglia, Rome, in 1919 and moved to Milan in the same year. This period saw a focus on the depiction of the urban outskirts. Having come into contact with Margherita Sarfatti, he was a founding member of the Sette pittori del Novecento in 1922 and subsequently helped to organise the group’s shows. He took part in the Venice Biennale by invitation in 1928 with the presentation of nine works at the 16th Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte di Venezia. He began painting murals in 1930 (and wrote a manifesto on this medium in 1933) and was a member of the Milan Triennale directorate. His numerous important public commissions in the second half of the 1930s included work in Milan for the Palazzo di Giustizia (1936–39) and Palazzo del Popolo d’Italia (1938–42). The post-war period saw a return to easel painting.