Federico Fellini (1920–1993) is one of the most important directors in cinema history. Films such as ‘La strada’ (1954), ‘La dolce vita’ (1960), ‘Amarcord’ (1973) and ‘La città delle donne’ (1980) are classics that are discussed by culture practitioners internationally and loved by the public at large. They are incisive commentaries on Italian society but also on Western values in the 20th century. Less known is the fact that Fellini had been a tireless draughtsman since his youth, initially sketching out his dreams and ideas using a felt or ball-point pen or a fineliner on paper before arranging them on the set and letting the cameras roll.

In addition to individual scenes and details of sets, he was chiefly interested in the characters that populate his films. Drawing was one way in which he developed his thoughts about them. These rapid sketches helped to guide him, but he also used them to explain his ideas visually to the film crew. As a consequence of his artistic leanings – he first worked as a caricaturist and creator of humorous drawings for newspapers – Fellini’s film drawings show a marked tendency towards caricature, and even the grotesque. It is that specific style that makes the drawings remarkable artistic creations in their own right, independently of the films for which they were made.