First Bergman and now this - Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni has died aged 94. Antonioni passed peacefully at his home on Tuesday night.
Like his contemporary François Truffaut, Antonioni started his film career as a critic - and, like Truffaut, was famed for his savage reviews. In 1939 he enrolled at Italy's national film school, before working as a screenwriter for Giuseppe De Santis, Enrico Fulchignoni and Roberto Rossellini.
He began his directing career with Cronaca di un amore in 1950, but his biggest successes came in the 1960s, with the trilogy Avventura, L' (1960), Notte, La (1961), and Eclisse, L' (1962) paving the way for career-high Blow-Up (1966).
Blow-Up was Antonioni's biggest success, winning him two Oscar nominations and an international audience.
He was a constant favourite amongst the art elite, and he remains one of the most nominated directors for the Palm d'Or - receiving a stunning five nominations between 1960 and 1982.
Famed for being part of the Italian neorealist movement, Antonioni's films often deviated from the neorealist form - focusing on the elite and the urban bourgeois instead of the working class subjects of his contemporaries.
Antonioni's passion for cinema continued throughout his career. In 1985, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralysed, but he continued to direct. “Filming for me is living,” he said.
Michelangelo Antonioni's funeral will be held in Italy on Thursday.
