Chia was born on 20 April 1946. He studied at the Istituto d’Arte in Florence and then enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti, taking his diploma in 1969.

He visited India, Turkey and much of Europe before settling down in Rome in 1970. During the Seventies his work shifted increasingly from conceptual art towards a rediscovery of pictorial language, attracting increasing attention from Italyn and European critics.

From September 1982 to August 1981, he moved to Monchengladbach in Germany where, having won a scholarship, he spent a year working before moving on to New York. Here he stayed for more than two decades, though frequently travelling between New York and Ronciglione and, later, Montalcino.
He was part of the Transavanguardia group and exhibited with them in some of the world’s most important museums and galleries, even though as early as 1984 he declared in an interview that for him the term Transavanguardia meant nothing.

He exhibited at the biennales in Paris and Sao Paulo, and a number of times at the Venice Biennale. He has taken part in group exhibitions in some of the world’s leading museums.

He has put on important solo exhibitions in many of the greatest international museums, including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1983), the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1984), museums in Berlin (1984, 1992), and the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris (1984), museums in Düsseldorf (1984), Antwerp (1989), Mexico City (1989), Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence (1991), museums in Karlsruhe (1992), Palm Springs (1993), Villa Medici in Rome (1995); Palazzo Reale in Milan (1997), at MOMA in Boca Raton, Florida (1997), the Galleria Civica in Siena (1997); the Galleria Civica in Trento (2000) and the Museo d’Arte in Ravenna (2000).

An anthological exhibition of his works was recently (2002) put on at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence.

In 2003, the Italian State has acquired three of his works for the permanent collection of the Senate of the Republic at Madama Palace, while in the 2005 they have been placed two monumental sculptures in front of the centre of the Province of Rome.

He exhibited at the biennales in Paris and Sao Paulo, and a number of times at the Venice Biennale, not last at the 53rd in 2009.

In 2010 he was invited to put on a solo exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale di Arte Moderna in Rome (GNAM).

He currently lives and works in New York and Rome, as well as in Montalcino where, with his Castello Romitorio winery, he works on the production of fine wines including the celebrated Brunello.

From September 2018 the Pinacoteca Casa Rusca in Locarno, Switzerland will present a huge retrospective of the Florentine artist entitled Sandro Chia, the exhibition will feature a selection of more than 50 paintings, realized from 1978 till now.

Solo exhibitions

2017 Sandro Chia, Marc Straus Gallery, New York, USA

2016 CIAC Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea, curated by Italo Tomassoni, Foligno (Perugia), Italy

2015 Grafiche, curated by Enzo di Martino, Villa Manini, Padua, Italy
Sandro Chia, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Paintings and Drawings, The Museum of Art - DeLand, DeLand, Florida, USA
Guerrieri, curated by Daria Jorioz and Enzo di Martino, Centro San Benin, Aosta, Italy

2014 Works on paper, Steven Harvey Art Projects, New York, USA
New Paintings, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland

2013 Storie trascese di teatro latente, Galleria Comunale di arte contemporanea, Arezzo, Italy

2012 Enigma, Galleria Giampiero Biasutti, Turin, Italy
Andare Oltre, Galleria d'arte maggiore, Bologna, Italy
Sandro Chia, Art & Co Gallery, Milan, Italy

2011 Sandro Chia, Foro Boario, Galleria Civica di Modena, Modena, Italy
Ceramica vs Disegno: 1:0, Museo della ceramica di Faenza, Faenza (Ravenna), Italy

2010 Sandro Chia, curated by Maurizio Vanni, Triennale Bovisa, Milan, Italy
Joy and Sorrow of a Young Painter, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Joy and Sorrow of a Young Painter, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Della pittura, popolare e nobilissima arte, Gnam – Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna di Roma, Rome, Italy

2009 LIII Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2008 Sandro Chia, Gemeentemuseum dell'Aia, L’Aia, Netherlands

2007 Sandro Chia, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida, USA

2006 Sandro Chia, Telecom Progetto Italia, Milan, Italy
Sandro Chia, Klaus Steinmetz Arte Moderna, San José, Costa Rica

2005 D'oro e d'argento, Pietrasanta (Lucca), Italy
Sandro Chia, Galleria Astuni, Pietrasanta (Lucca), Italy
Sandro Chia, Contini Art Gallery, Venice, Italy

2004 Sandro Chia, Galleria d’Arte Contini, Cortina d’Ampezzo (Belluno), Italy
Sandro Chia, Centro Cultural Ourense, Ourense, Spain
Tuscan Sun Festival, Church of S. Agostino, Cortona (Arezzo), Italy
Sandro Chia, Villa Bohm, Neustadt am der Weinstrasse, Germany
Sandro Chia, Galleria Boxart, Verona, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galleria Tega, Milan, Italy

2003 Sandro Chia, Spazio Bisazza, Milan, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galleria Tega, Milan, Italy
Sandro Chia, Temple University, Rome, Italy

2002 Sandro Chia, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galerie Vidal Saint Phalle, Paris, France

2001 Sandro Chia, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Magazzini D’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy

2000 Sandro Chia, Galleria Civica D'Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
Sandro Chia, Museo di Ravenna, Italy
Sandro Chia, Velge and Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium

1999 Sandro Chia, Tony Shafrazzi Gallery, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Magazzini D'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

1998 Sandro Chia, Pepperdine University, Weismann Foundation, Malibu, California, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Lutz Gallery, Germany

1997 Sandro Chia, Magazzini del Sale Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galleria Civica, Siena, Italy
Sandro Chia, Palazzo Sforzesco, Milan, Italy
Sandro Chia, M.O.M.A., Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Sandro Chia, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Sandro Chia, Arengario di Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

1996 Sandro Chia: New Paintings, Sidney, Australia
Sandro Chia, Janis Gallery, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France

1995 Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Sandro Chia, Academie de France, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy

1994 Sandro Chia, Grand Salon, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, 65 Thompson Street, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Waddington Galleries, London, UK

1993 Sandro Chia, Espace des Arts, Chalon sur Saône, France
Sandro Chia, Desert Museum of Art, Palm Springs, USA
Sandro Chia, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Larry Gagosian/Leo Castelli, New York, USA

1992 Sandro Chia, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany
Sandro Chia, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Sandro Chia, Galerie Hilger, Vienna, Austria

1991 Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Sandro Chia, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy
Sandro Chia, Kunstverein Sundern, Sundern, Germany

1990 Sandro Chia, Sabine Wachters Deurle Fine Arts, Deurle, Belgium
Sandro Chia, Yoshimitsu Hijikata Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Sandro Chia, Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France

1989 Sandro Chia, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria
Sandro Chia, ICC, Antwerp, Netherlands
Sandro Chia, Museo della Biennale, Venice, Italy
Sandro Chia, Museum Schloss Rheda, Wiedenbrück, Germany
Sandro Chia, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico
Sandro Chia, Museum of Monterey, Monterey, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Sandro Chia, ACeT Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Yoshimitsu Hijikata Gallery, Nagoya, Japan

1988 Sandro Chia, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Chiesa di San Nicolò, XXI Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto (Perugia), Italy
Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA

1987 Sandro Chia, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Sandro Chia, Mario Diacono, Boston, USA
Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome, Italy
Sandro Chia, Fischer Fine Art, London, UK

1986 Sandro Chia, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Sandro Chia, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

1985 Sandro Chia, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Sandro Chia, Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
Sandro Chia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria

1984 Sandro Chia, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany
Sandro Chia, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany
Sandro Chia, The Mezzanine Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Kunstverein für Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
Sandro Chia, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Sandro Chia, Schellmann und Klüser, Munich, Germany
Sandro Chia, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Sima, Venice, Italy
Sandro Chia, Galerie Ascan Crone, Hamburg, Germany
Sandro Chia, James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Sandro Chia, Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, Italy

1983-84 Sandro Chia, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany

1983 Sandro Chia, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sandro Chia, Mario Diacono, Rome, Italy
Sandro Chia, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Sandro Chia, Leo Castelli, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Sandro Chia, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Natalie Seroussi, Paris, France
Sandro Chia, Gallery Five, Stockholm, Sweden
Sandro Chia, Galerie Silvia Menzel, Berlin, Germany
Sandro Chia, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany

1982 Sandro Chia, The James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles
Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater, New York, USA

1981 Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Sandro Chia, Anthony d'Offay, London, UK

1980 Sandro Chia, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
Sandro Chia, Art e Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sandro Chia, Paul Maenz, Cologne, Germany

Group exhibitions

2016 Works on Paper and Wood, HilgerBrot Kunsthalle, Wien, Austria

2015 Meraviglia, Sandro Chia and Enzo Cucchi, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
La Divina Commedia, CIAC Centro Italiano Arte Contemporanea, Foligno (Perugia), Italy

2013 About Ceramics, Otto Gallery, Bologna, Italy
Dislessica, Galleria Bianca, Palermo, Italy
Terra Italiana, Galleria d'arte maggiore, Bologna, Italy

2012 20 x Ettore Majorana, Palazzo Manganelli, Catania, Italy

2011 La Trasvanguardia Italiana, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
7opere per la Misericordia, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples, Italy

2010 The 80's Revisited - Sammlung Bishofberger, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany

2009 Collaudi, curated by Luca Beatrice and Beatrice Buscaroli, Padiglione Italia, LIII Biennale di Venezia, Italy
Mitografie, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome, Italy

2008 Italics, curated by Francesco Bonami, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy

2007 Italy, Tendencies of Contemporary Research 1980-2007, MART, Rovereto, Italy
UNHCR - Arte Contemporanea per i Rifugiati, V edizione, Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy
Luoghi d' Arte in Toscana, Giardini e Interni d' Artista, Museo Civico, Siena, Italy
Interni Romani, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy

2006 Group exhibition, Gary Nader Fine Art, Miami, USA
Il Marmo e la Celluloide, La Versiliana, Forte dei Marmi (Lucca), Italy

2005 Les Inventeurs de la Transavanguardia, Chateau de Villeneuve, Vence, France
Strade di Roma, Casa delle Letterature, Villa Poniatowski, Rome, Italy
Veritas, Studio d' Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy

2004 I Misteri di Roma, Galleria Nazionala d' Arte Moderna di Roma (GNAM), Rome, Italy
Regards, Galerie Artiscope, Brussels, Belgium

2003 Futuro Italiano, Parlamento Europeo, Brussels, Belgium
La Transavangarde, Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image Imprimée, La Louviere, Belgium
Il Nuovo Rit-ratto d’Europa, Academié Royale de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
First Internazional Art Biennale of Beijing, Beijing, China
La Transavanguardia Italiana, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, Fondacion PROA Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Santiago del Chile, Museo de Arte Moderno, Città del Messico, Messico
Le Opere e i Giorni, Certosa di Padula, Padula, Italy
Seascapes in Confrontation, Beaufort 2003, Museum of Modern Art, Ostend, Belgium
Pictura Magistra Vitae, curated by Victoria Coen, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna, Italy

2002 Transavanguardia, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
In Chartis Mevanie, Comune di Bevagna e Spoleto, Italy

2000 Group exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

1999 Group exhibition, Tony Shafrazzi Gallery, New York, USA

1997 Group exhibition, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France

1996 Pablo Picasso: Ein zeitgenossischer Dialog, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria e Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France

1995 Die Muse?, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Die Muse?, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France

1994 Chia, De Maria, Paladino, Galleria Cardi, Milan, Italy
New Prints by Contemporary Masters, Salama-Caro Gallery, London, UK

1993 Chia, Clemente, Paladino, Salvo: Works on Paper, Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Utopia. Arte Italiana 1950-1993, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Utopia. Arte Italiana 1950-1993, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France

1992-3 Transavanguardia: Chia, Clemente, Cucci, De Maria, Paladino: Works from 1977-90, Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy

1992 Group exhibition, Ho-Am Museum, Seoul, Korea

1991 Festival of Salzburg, con Arnulf Rainer e Roy Lichtenstein, Salzburg, Austria

1990 Sperone Westwater Group Exhibition, ARCO '90 Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
Number One 1990, Galeria Dau al Set, Barcellona, Spain
Artists for Amnesty, Blum Helman Gallery and Germans van Eck Gallery, New York, USA
Group Exhibition, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
Tra Mito e Stereotipo, Galleria INARCO, Turin, Italy
Dreams of Artists' Furniture, "121" Art Gallery, Antwerp, Netherlands
Lo Zingaro Blu, Galleria Pieroni, Rome, Italy
Pharmakon '90, Nippon Convention Center, Chiba, Japan

1989 Italian Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
S. Chia/E. Cucci, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
1979-1989 American, Italian, Mexican Art from the Collection of Francesco Pellizzi, Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, UK Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
Wiener Diwan-Sigmund Freud-Heute, Museum des 20 Jahrhunderts, Vienna, Austria
Meta-Menphis, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy

1988 Dal ritorno all'ordine al richiamo della pittura. Continuità figurativa nella pittura italiana 1920-1987, travelling show, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
Le scuole romane sviluppi e continuità, Palazzo Forti, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Verona, Italy
XLIII Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
The Marshall Frankel Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Fables and Fantasies, From the collection of Susan Kasen and Robert D. Summer, Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, USA
City of Sale, National Academy of Design, Huntington Room, New York, USA

1987 Group exhibition, Ascan Crone, Hamburg, Germany
Painting in Europe, Karl Pfefferle, Munich, Germany
Tridente Due Roma 1987, Galleria Giuliana De Crescenzo, Rome, Italy
The great drawing show, Michael Kohn, Los Angeles, USA
Art against AIDS, Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
The Re-emergent Figure-Seven Sculptors at the Storm King Art Center, The Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York, USA
Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Collection, Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA
Italie hors d'Italie, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nimes, France
Watercolors plus, Nora Haime Gallery, New York, USA
Works on Paper, Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munich, Germany
Disegno italiano del dopoguerra, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
Relief and Sculpture, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Eugene Binder Gallery, Dallas, USA
Hommage a Leo Castelli, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
International Art Show for the End of World Hunger, travelling show, Minnesota Museum of Art, Saint Paul, USA

1986 Group exhibition, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
Group exhibition, Galerie Zero, Stockholm, Sweden
Group exhibition, Eugene Binder Gallery, Dallas, USA
Group exhibition, Galerie Mustad, Molnycke, Sweden
Group exhibition, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
XI Quadriennale di Roma, Rome, Italy
Philadelphia Collects Art since 1940, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
International Art Show for the End of World Hunger, International Monetary Fund Visitor's Center, Washington, USA
Focus on the Image, travelling show, Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, USA

1985-86 New Art from Italy, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha and Dade County Cultural Center, Miami, USA
A New Romanticism, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; The Akron Art Museum, Akron, USA
An International Survey 13 Points of View, Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

1985 Group exhibition, Dracos Art Center, Athens, Greece
7000 Eichen, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Anniottanta, States of War, Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
States of War, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
Selection from William J. Hokin Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
Group exhibition, Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London, UK
Drawings, Galerie Silvia Menzel, Berlin, Germany
Ouverture, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria

1984-85 Six in Bronze, The Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California; The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
Dialog, Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbona, Portugal

1984 Six in Bronze, 1954 Gallery, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA
The European Attack, Gallery Barbara Farber American Graffiti, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Group exhibition, Galerie Léger, Malmö, Sweden
Totem, Bonnier Gallery, New York, USA
Modern Expressionists, Sidney Janis, New York, USA
Via New York, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada
Det Italienska Transavangardet, Stockholm Art Fair and Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden
R.O.S.C. '84, Guinness Hop Store, Dublin, Ireland
Group exhibition, Gallozzi-La Placa, New York, USA
Group exhibition, Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany
Group exhibition, Jeffrey Hoffeld, New York, USA
Group exhibition, Galerie France Antiope, Paris, France
Arte allo specchio, Giardini, Biennale, Venice, Italy
Group exhibition, Sperone Westwater, New York, USA
Portraits, Galerie Silvia Menzel, Berlin, Germany
Drawings, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Contemporary Italian Masters, The Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, USA
The Human Condition, Biennial III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Terrae Motus, Villa Campolieto, Naples, Italy
Current Expression, Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Artists choose Artists, CDS Gallery, New York, USA
An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
XLI Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

1983 Tema Celeste, Museo Civico d'Arte Contemporanea, Gibellina (Trapani), Italy
New Art at the Tate Gallery, Tate Gallery, London, UK
New Italian Art, The New Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA
Trustees' Choice, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
Opere su carta, Centro d'arte contemporanea, Siracusa, Italy
Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucci: Bilder, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
La Transavanguardia, Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Spain
Concetto-Imago: Generationswechsel in Italien, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Recent European Painting, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Sculpture, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA
Drawings/Photography, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, USA
Bonjour Monsieur Manet, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
Group exhibition, Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
Group exhibition, Galerie Munro, Hamburg, Germany
Ars 83 Helsinki, Ateneumin Taidemuseo, Helsinki, Finland
Marathon '83, International Running Center, New York, USA
Group exhibition, Bonnier Gallery, New York, USA
The First Show, Painting and Sculpture from Eight Collections, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA
Group exhibition, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
Sakowitz Festival del Disegno italiano, Sakowitz, Houston, USA
Group exhibition, Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany
Expressive Malerei Nach Picasso, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland

1982 De la catastrophe, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Italian Art Now: An American Perspective, Exxon International Exhibition, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Documenta 7, Kassel, Germany
The Pressure to Paint, Marlborough Gallery, New York, USA
Hommage to Leo Castelli, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Five Painters: Chia, Clemente, Kiefer, Salle, Schnabel, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
Transavanguardia Italia/America, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
Scultura andata, scultura storna, Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
Avanguardia, transavanguardia 68-77, Mura Aureliane, Rome, Italy
Zeitgeist, Internationale Kunstausstellung, Berlin, Germany
Chia, Cucci, Lichtenstein, Twombly, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
Mythe, Drame, Tragedie, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie, St-Etienne, France
Group exhibition, Galleria Giuliana De Crescenzo, Rome, Italy
Vision in Disbelief, IV Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia

1981 Group exhibition, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Linee della ricerca artistica in Italia 1960/1980, Palazzo delle Espozioni, Rome, Italy
Recent Acquisitions: Drawings, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
A New Spirit in Painting, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Westkunst heute, Rheinhallen der Kolner Messe, Cologne, Germany
Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucci, Carlo Mariani, Malcolm Morley, David Salle, Julian Schnabel (drawings), Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA
New York by Chia, Cucci, Disler, Penck (graphics), Bernard Jacobson Ltd., Los Angeles, USA
New York, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
Figures: Forms and Expressions, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Cepa Gallery e Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York, USA
La memoria e l'inconscio, Studio La Torre, Pistoia, Italy
Tesoro, Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
Aspects of Post-Modernism, The Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

1980 Die Enthauptete Hand, 100 Zeichnungen aus Italien (Chia, Clemente, Cucci, Paladino), Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Wolfsburg and Groningen, Germany
Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucci, Nicola De Maria, Mimmo Paladino, Francesco Masnata, Genoa, Italy
Chia, Cucci, Merz, Calzolari, Gian Enzo Sperone, Turin, Italy
Egonavigatio, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany
La nuova immagine italiana, Loggetta lombardesca, Ravenna, Italy
7 junge Kunstler aus Italien. Chia, Clemente, Cucci, De Maria, Ontani, Paladino, Tatafiore, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland; Essen, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands
Prime opere, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy
Après le classicisme, Musée d'Art et Industrie, St-Etienne, France
Biennale di Venezia, Aperto 80, Venice, Italy
Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucci, Sperone Westwater Fischer, New York, USA

1979 Europa 79, Stuttgart, Germany
Associazione dissociazione dissenzione dell'arte-L'Estetico e il selvaggio, Galleria Comunale, Modena, Italy
XIII Rassegna Internazionale d'arte. Opere fatte ad arte, Palazzo di città, Acireale (Catania), Italy
Le Stanze, Castello Colonna, Genazzano (Rome), Italy
XV Biennale, Museu de Arte, Sao Paulo, Brazil

1977 10th Biennale de Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
S.Chia/G. Paolini/Salvo, Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome, Italy
1957-1977 (manifesto on the occasion of 20 years of activity of the gallery), Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy

1976 A. Boetti, Collo rotto braccia lunghe; S. Chia, Immobilità vari affetti; F. Clemente, Coppia di inganno; V. Pisani, Oriente occidente, Framart Studio, Naples, Italy

1975 24h su 24h, Galleria l'Attico, Rome, Italy
Boetti, Chia, Fabro, Pistoletto, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy

1974 Chia, De Filippi, Kounellis, Mattiacci, Notargiacomo, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy

1973 Sandro Chia, ex libris; Ferruccio De Filippi, Narcisco; Gianfranco Notargiacomo, Ipotesi per una metrica, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy
Sandro Chia, Gianfranco Notargiacomo, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy

1972 Chia, De Filippi, Fabro, Pisani, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy

1971 Burri...Colla...Chia...Scialoja...Sordini, Galleria La Salita, Rome, Italy