Pier Augusto Breccia nasce a Trento il 12-4-1943. Dal 1949 è a Roma, dove compie l’intero curriculum dei suoi studi.

1960-1961 - Traduce e pubblica per l’Editore Signorelli «Antigone» di Sofocle e «Prometeo Legato» di Eschilo.
1961 - Consegue la maturità classica presso il Liceo Giulio Cesare e si iscrive alla Facoltà di Medicina dell’Università Cattolica.
1967 - Gli viene conferita, con lode, la prima Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia della nuova Facoltà.
1967 - 1969 - Soggiorna ripetutamente a Stoccolma, dove lavora presso l’Istituto di Chirurgia Toracica e Cardiovascolare del Karolinska, sotto la direzione del Prof. V. O. Björk.
1969 - 1983 - Si dedica a tempo pieno alla Cardiochirurgia presso l’Università Cattolica di Roma. In questi anni consegue tre specializzazioni chirurgiche, pubblica circa 50 lavori sulle principali riviste italiane ed estere, consegue l’Idoneità Ospedaliera a Primario di Cardiochirurgia ed infine l’Idoneità a Professore Associato. Esegue oltre 1000 interventi cardiochirurgici e collabora a costituire la Divisione Autonoma di Cardiochirurgia presso il Policlinico Gemelli.

1977 - Scopre del tutto casualmente una capacità di disegnare che non supponeva di possedere.
1978 - 1979 - Si esercita per diletto a disegnare «dal vero» nei ritagli di tempo concessigli dalla sua professione.
1979 - 1981 - Crea una serie di disegni che vengono selezionati per il suo primo libro e la sua prima mostra con il titolo «Oltreomega», presentata nell’ottobre-novembre 1981 da Cesare Vivaldi.
1981 - 1983 - Il successo ottenuto con la sua prima presentazione lo stimola a proseguire sempre più intensamente il suo lavoro, con rinnovati consensi.

Aprile 1985 - Dopo due anni di “aspettativa” rassegna le dimissioni dalla sua posizione di cardiochirurgo per dedicarsi completamente alla pittura.
1985 - 1996 - Risiede e lavora prevalentemente a New York, da dove si sposta ripetutamente in Europa ed in altri Stati d’America, raccogliendo un crescente consenso internazionale.
1990- 1992 - Si dedica principalmente all’elaborazione del monumentale volume “Animus-Anima”, pubblicato da “Vita e Pensiero” (Milano).
Nell’ottobre 1996, pur conservando i suoi legami con New York e con gli U.S.A., decide di ritornare in Italia per dare l’avvio ad un programma espositivo in spazi pubblici o privati di interesse eminentemente culturale. Allestisce, allo scopo, una collezione permanente delle sue opere, visitabile per appuntamento, presso il suo Studio-Atelier in Roma.
1998 - 1999 - Si dedica principalmente all’elaborazione del volume “L’altro libro: il linguaggio sospeso dell’autocoscienza” (Ed. Di Renzo - Roma).
2000 - 2002 - Prepara, in collaborazione con Marisa del Re (New York Master Exbibitions), la grande rassegna “Il Posto dell’Utopia” per il Complesso del Vittoriano di Roma e il Palazzo Ziino di Palermo.
2003 - Presenta, per la prima volta in Europa, presso l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Bruxelles, sua pittura con il nome di “Ermeneutica”.
2004 - Pubblica il suo libro-manifesto “Introduzione alla pittura ermeneutica”, in preparazione per le mostre successive.

PIER AUGUSTO BRECCIA BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Per Augusto Breccia was born in Trento (Italy), on April 12, 1943, the son of Elsa Faini of Trento and Angelo Breccia of Porano (Orvieto). Since 1948 he has lived in Rome, where he has pursued the full curriculum of studies. The father was a surgeon; his mother, a hospital operating room chief nurse. From a surgical point of view, "the operating theatre was his nursery". In his adolescence, his surgical "predestination" was in a certain way in contrast to his particular inclination toward the humanistic world. During his 14th and 15th years, fascinated by Dante, he studied with passion, by himself, the Divine Comedy, learning to appreciate the artistic, universal contents beyond the allegoric representations.

At 16, upon entering classic high school, he discovered the glamour of the ancient Greek world. On his own initiative, he translated in blank endecasyllabics (published by Signorelli Ed.) Sofocle's "Antigone" and the "Tied Prometheus" by Aeschilus. He also translated the Plato " Dialogues" and through these came to know Socrates who was to be a great teacher for him . At 18, he graduated from high school at the "Giulio Cesare" Lyceum of Rome, distinguishing himself among the best students of Italy.

In 1961 he enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of Rome, the same year of its inauguration. In July, 1967, for his brilliant curriculum , he was selected to receive the first Medical Degree of the new Faculty with the highest marks and honours (cum laude). Following this, he dedicated his entire interest to heart-surgery, frequenting at different times the Center for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Karolinska Sjukhuset in Stockholm (directed by V.O.Bjork), and working at the Catholic University in Rome (A.Gemelli Policlinic) until he reached the qualification of Associate Professor and Chief Heart Surgeon in 1979.

During this period he performed over one thousand open-heart operations and had more than fifty major papers published on important national and international scientific magazines. His father had died in 1978.

In 1977 he discovered, in a most casual way, his capacity for design which he never knew or thought he possessed. Fascinated by his instantaneous skill, he practiced drawing for about two years, copying a little bit of everything. Then, suddenly, overbearingly and dramatically, in 1979, the humanistic vocation of youth, matured by the human experience of almost 20 years of medical surgical life, re-emerged under the crust and broke open. In two years, he prepared his "opera prima" Oltreomega (Beyond Omega) presented in October 1981 by the famous Italian Critic and Poet Cesare Vivaldi (Director of the Fine Art Academy of Rome). The work was received with extraordinary acclaim by the critic and by the public. During the years following, with increasing acclaim, he held new exhibitions in many cities in Italy and outside his country ("Choral Monologue", "The concrete shapes of Non-existent", "The Semantic of Silence", etc.). His new involvement as an artist became so consuming that, in August, 1983, Breccia took a leave of absence from his surgical position.

In February, 1984, he wrote a book ("The Eternal Mortal" - Publ,De Luca - Rome) which expresses his original artistic/cultural position in the art-world and his aesthetic philosophy. In January and February of 1985, Breccia's painting was presented for the first time in New York at Gucci Galleria and at Arras Gallery with great success.

In April, 1985, he resigned his position as a surgeon and moved to New York to pursue his artistic experience in USA. He lived and worked in New York for the next 11 years, showing his works, through Arras Gallery, in other American and European cities ( Zurich,Columbus, Santa Fe, Miami, Houston) with growing success. In 1992 he wrote a monumental book ("Animus-Anima"- Vita e Pensiero Publ. - Milan) where he collected 500 images of his paintings and developed, through a deep analysis of their language, a clear vision of what he would have named (in 2004) "Hermeneutic painting".

In 1996 he decided to go back to his country to pursue his cultural engagement in Europe through State and Museum Exhibitions.

In 1999 he wrote another important book ("The suspended language of the Selfconsciousness" - Publ. Di Renzo - Rome), and in 2004 he published the Manifesto of his "Hermeneutics" ("Introduction to Hermeneutic painting") Since 1996 he lives and works in Rome. Among his public exhibitions during this period, a special mention is due to his Retrospectives at Palazzo dei Papi (Viterbo -1997), Palazzo dei Sette (Orvieto- 2000 and 2007), Museo del Vittoriano (Roma - 2003), Museo di Palazzo Ziino (Palermo- 2004), Italian Cultural Institute (Bruxelles - 2004) , Archivio di Stato (Firenze - 2005), Museo di Palazzo Venezia (Roma - 2007). So far Breccia held 53 one-man-shows. About seven hundreds of his works have been purchased by Collectors all over the world, and his web-site (www.pieraugustobreccia.it) has been visited by over two hundred thousand people in the last six months. Because of his very personal style and his original philosophy, he is actually considered and recognized as the "father" of "Hermeneutic Painting".