Piero Dorazio was an Italian painter known for colour field painting, lyrical abstraction and other forms of abstract art. During the Second World War, he fled his hometown of Abruzzo with his family, working briefly as a translator for the British Army.

He later studied architecture at the University of Rome. Influenced by the Futurists, he began painting and, at age 20, won a scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.