Michele Dantini is Full Professor of Art History at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, where he has been teaching since 2016; and, since the same year, Visiting Professor at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca. He graduated (MA) and earned his Ph.D. in art history and philosophy at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, with Remo Bodei as supervisor of his thesis; and Paola Barocchi as supervisor of his doctoral dissertation. From 2006 to 2016 he taught at the University of Eastern Piedmont "Amedeo Avogadro"; from 2011 to 2013 he directed the MAED Master (Educational Management for Contemporary Art) of the University of Eastern Piedmont|Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art; from 2018 to 2021 he was a member of the Scientific Committee of OGR|CRT Officina Grandi Riparazioni|Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, Turin.

His interests range from the history of art from the early modern age to the present: works, artists, movements, and contexts. Main lines of research: a) the Grand Tour and the figurative "construction" of the myth of Italy; b) the crisis of the Ancien Régime, considered in its long-term historical and artistic implications; c) the European avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, with particular reference to the Italian "valori plastici" movement, and the French and German-Slavic scenes; d) the art of totalitarian regimes between the two wars and the cultural policies of the Cold War; e) the European and American neo-avant-gardes of the 1960s and '70s, in particular the geopolitical-cultural, environmental, and travel-related themes; f) the art of the first two decades of the 21st century; g) the methods of art history and the relationship between art history and cultural history; h) art criticism and its recent history.

Previously on the editorial board of "ROARS. Return on Academic Research and School," Michele Dantini is currently a member of the editorial board of the class A journals "Predella Journal of Visual Arts" and "piano B." He contributes to "Rivista il Mulino," "Il Foglio," and "Corriere della Sera."

Between 2017 and 2018, he curated two major international exhibitions: “Paul Klee. At the Origins of Art,” MUDEC, Milan; and “Georges Braque vis-à-vis. Picasso, Matisse Duchamp,” Palazzo Reale, Mantua.