Balla was influenced by what he saw of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism during the course of a visit to Paris. In 1904, when he returned to Rome, he passed on the knowledge he had acquired of modern painting to his two pupils Boccioni and Severini . On 11 February 1910, there appeared in Milan the 'Manifesto of futurist painters', signed by Balla, Boccioni, Carra, Russolo and Severini, followed on 11 April by the 'Technical manifesto of futurist painting'. In France, the review Comoedia published the complete text of the manifesto in the issue for 18 May of that year, and an article on Futurist Venice on 17 June. Balla however went back to his traditional way of painting, and continued to live in Rome. The most important of Balla's paintings from his futurist period are: Dynamism if a dog on a lead (1912) , Injections if futurism (c. 1912), Speed if a motor car + light, noise (1913) .

Based on Phaidon encyclopedia of Impressionism, Maurice Serullaz, Phaidon, 1978