Paolo Ghilardi was born in Bagnatica (BG) in 1930, but he lives and works in Stezzano (BG).
He attended the Istituto Tecnico Industriale in Bergamo and found a job as a mechanic designer at Innocenti and, later, at Dalmine. At the same time, Ghilardi attended Achille Funi's evening school who was the Accademia Carrara's director then and participated in important prizes for the first time: in 1953, in the Premio Dalmine and, in 1954, in the Premio San Fedele in Milan. The spirit of modernity understood as concretistic experience is the basis of Paolo Ghilardi's artistic choices. His research has always developed following the abstract-geometric movement, supported and renewed by a significant interest in the spatial and chromatic research. In his recent works, he has further developed this concept: light iron, plexiglass or glass structures, whose colors spread themselves in space, saturating some zones.
Among Ghilardi's most recent exhibitions, it's worth mentioning his participation in the 1999 exhibition entitled Abstraction en France et en Italie at the Contemporary Art Museum of Strasbourg. In 2002, he presented his 20 years of work in Colori del Centro Storico di Bergamo, with an exhibition on colors in the Aula Magna of the Liceo Artistico Statale of Bergamo. Still in 2002, he took part in the collective exhibition entitled Arte a Bergamo 1960-1970, at the Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo and in The Italian – neue position der konkreten kunst, at Galerie des Cultur Forum in Erfurt. In 2003, he participated in the Arte a Bergamo 1970-1980 exhibition, at the Palazzo della Ragione in Bergamo.

Ghilardi's relationship with Galleria Fumagalli began in 1996, with his participation in the collective exhibition entitled Uscita di sicurezza. This relationship continued in 1998 when he took part in Insieme oltre una linea d’ombra, a fundraising collective exhibition presented by Galleria Fumagalli. In 1999, Ghilardi presented a one-man show at the gallery, along with a catalogue with texts by Claudio Cerritelli and Annamaria Maggi.