Alfredo Roldán, 1965 | Figurative painter

Alfredo Roldàn was born in Madrid. At the age of 22, having had no formal artistic training, he started drawing professionally, selling his work in street markets, at the same time presenting his work at major competitions, of which he won several.

It was on winning the award granted by the City Council of Madrid in 1994 that he was discovered by a major gallery.

His winning painting now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art, Madrid.

Remedios Varo | Surrealist painter

Remedios Varo’s paintings combine Surrealist influences with a distinctive style that evokes mystical or eerie adventures.

She had a life philosophy of non-conformity and a personal story marked by dislocation and tumult.

During her childhood in Spain, Varo was influenced by her engineer father, who taught her to draw, and her strict Catholic schooling, against which she rebelled.

Oscar Alvarez Pardo, 1967 | Abstract Figurative painter

Spanish self-taught artist and painter Oscar Álvarez Pardo was born, living and working in Zaragoza, Spain.

"In my watercolors, after years of dedication and learning to master this so difficult medium, there is an initial stage devoted to a hard work essentially realistic... mainly portraits and seascapes become a constant in my work.

In what could be a second stage I begin to introducer the fantasy in my paintings, realistic work alternating with others of fantástco court".

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil | Belle Époque painter

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil (Madrid, 1858-1918) also known as Lucas "the younger", was born to the painter Eugenio Lucas Velázquez and Francisca Villaamil.

Until only a few years ago the information we had about his life was almost as vague as what is known about his work.

After initially training in his father’s studio as a boy, he furthered his studies at the Special School of Painting in Madrid and took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts three times.

Salvador Dali: "Give me two hours a day of activity, and I'll take the other twenty-two in dreams"!

• "I believe that the moment is near when by a procedure of active paranoiac thought, it will be possible to systematize confusion and contribute to the total discrediting of the world of reality".

• "If you understand a painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it".

• "We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art".

Georges Corominas, 1945

Son of a Spanish painter, Georges Corominas, after studying at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts d'Alger, returned to France in 1962, where his paintings were quickly noticed.

Corominas is an artist who, while in search of the deep soul of the world, presents his "joie de vivre" as well as his emotions, passions and fascination for the perfect beauty to life, all in a bright enchantment.

Laureate of prestigious price, result of participation in the famous national and international exhibitions, his painting is pointed out by the collectors.

Salvador Dali: "Adoro i miei nemici quando sono intelligenti"

"Ho sfondato il muro della spudoratezza con una disciplina da caserma" - confidava Salvador Dalí in una intervista del 1961 alla giornalista e scrittrice italiana Oriana Fallaci (1929-2006), mentre, nelle successive riflessioni tuonava contro gli pseudo moralisti: "Non sono io il pagliaccio ma lo è questa società mostruosamente cinica e così ingenuamente incosciente che gioca a fingere di essere seria per meglio nascondere la propria follia".

Francisco Sanchis Cortés, 1969 | Impressionist figurative painter

The Valencian painter Francisco Sanchis Cortés has an enviable genetic line that leads him in pursuit of the fine arts.

A line that genetically connects the best manners of Hispanic roots, heir to the demonic fictional painting of the Pinazo, Emilio Sala, Mongrell and Sorolla.

A narrative line in which he tells a lot about the story of the matter and his ability to move.

A line in which knowing how to paint is essentially valued, precisely to characterize the motifs, with humanity in the gestures of the characters and above all with an outcrop of a romantic character.

Iban Barrenetxea, 1973 | Fantasy writer / illustrator

Iban Barrenetxea is a Spanish graphic designer and writer.

Iban lets his imagination run lose in his work, and creates hilarious and fantastic scenes overflowing with unique details and characters.

Iban Barrenetxea is one of the most internationally-acclaimed illustrators and authors in the field of children’s and young adult literature in Spain.

He has received numerous awards and has exhibited in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Japan and his books have been translated into several languages: French, Russian, Japanese and Korean.

Kike Meana, 1969 | Figurative painter

The works of Spanish painter Kike Meana demonstrate a rigorous interest in drawing.

Meana confronts us with the indoctrinated mass that this society can be and in which we all, in some way, see a reflection of ourselves.

His fantastic urban landscapes, mythical in their atmosphere, light, and colour, as well as the immense panoramic views of Havana, London and Madrid overwhelm the viewer.

Meanwhile, his more intimate pictorial approaches of these big cities show us their daily life and their hidden corners with an equal strength and beauty, even in the hard and intense series´ Metamorphosis and Matadero.

Lisi Martin, 1944 | It's Christmas Time

Spanish illustrator Lisi Martin was born in Barcelona, Catalonia.

She is the younger of 2 children, having an older brother.

She was a quiet child and claims to have started drawing at the age of 4 as a way to express her imagination.

There was no realization in her early years that she had any specific or unusual talent, but she had a clear love for art and continued to pursue it throughout her childhood.

5 Important artworks at the Tate Gallery

Tate is a family of art galleries in London, Liverpool and Cornwall, known as Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate St Ives and Tate Liverpool + RIBA North.

When Tate first opened its doors to the public in 1897 it had just one site, displaying a small collection of British artworks.

Today we have four major sites and the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art, which includes nearly 70,000 artworks.

Henri Matisse | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate

Matisse painted this work while renting a house near Nice in the South of France.

The relaxed, relatively naturalistic style is typical of his work of the early 1920s.

It was bought by the Contemporary Art Society in 1926 with the intention of presenting it to the Tate Gallery.

Matisse wrote that the painting ‘will represent me as well as possible - moreover, I think that it will not frighten the acquisitions committee of the Modern Museum in London'.

In fact, the Tate initially turned it down, but accepted it in 1938.| Source: © Tate

Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954) | Reading Woman with Parasol, 1921 | Tate Collection

10 masterpieces at the Museo Nacional del Prado

Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina | Santa Caterina, 1510 | Museo Nacional del Prado

This is one of the Spanish Renaissance’s most emblematic depictions of a female figure and the best known of Yáñez de la Almedina’s works.

Both considerations are due to the visibility this work has received at the Museo del Prado, where it has been one of the essential icons in its galleries of 16th-century Spanish painting ever since it arrived in 1946.

According to Jacopo de la Vorágine’s The Golden Legend, Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a young, wise and virtuous princess who loved the Lord.

Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina (1489-1536) | Santa Caterina, 1510 | Museo Nacional del Prado

Federico García Lorca | Desiderio / Wish

Solo il tuo cuore ardente…

niente più.

Il mio paradiso…

un campo senza usignolo né lire,

con un fiume discreto e una fontanella.

Senza lo sprone del vento sopra le fronde

né la stella che vuole essere foglia.

Tranquillo Cremona | The ivy / Edera, 1878

Nydia Lozano, 1947 | Ladies with flowers

Nydia Lozano felt from a very young age, to her town of Alginet, the inclination to capture on paper her impressions of the countryside and the towns of Valencia.

His church towers and family faces interested Jose Espert, the first person to tell him what painting was and probably the only one who could talk to him about painters like Sargent in the early sixties.

He saw that Nydia’s path was already drawn and helped her follow him.

Joaquín Sorolla to Clotilde: “You are my flesh, my life and my brain”..

Clotilde García Castillo (1865-1929) married Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (Spanish Realist/Impressionist painter, 1863-1923) at the age of 23 and they ended their days together.

The painter died six years before her, in 1923.

Clotilde donated all her assets to the State for the foundation of a museum in honour of her husband's work - the family home where the Sorolla Museum stands today.

Joaquín Sorolla | Clotilde seated on the Sofa (Clotilde sentada en un sofá), 1910 | Museo Sorolla, Madrid

Of all the portraits Sorolla painted of his wife, this is probably the most successful and is a fundamental work within the context of his artistic production.

The viewer is presented here with a refined lady, reflecting her social status and so mirroring her husband’s professional success.

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida | Clotilde seated on the Sofa, 1910 | Museo Sorolla

Joaquín Sorolla, lo Spagnolo della Belle Époque

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923) è stato un pittore Spagnolo, un luminare nel regno dell'arte, maestro della luce, del colore e dello spirito vibrante della Spagna.

Annoverato fra i rinnovatori della pittura spagnola in chiave impressionista, è tra i pittori più prolifici, con un catalogo di più di 2.200 opere.

Joaquín Sorolla nacque a Valencia in Spagna il 27 febbraio 1863.

Rimasto orfano di entrambi i genitori a soli due anni d'età fu allevato nella famiglia di una zia materna insieme alla sorella Eugenia.

Manifestò presto la sua attitudine al disegno.

José Mongrell i Torrent | Genre painter

José Mongrell i Torrent (1870-1937) was a Spanish painter, born in Valencia and died in Seville.

He studied at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts with Ignacio Pinazo (1849-1916).

During this formative period, he already showed his skills as a portraitist and entered the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid for the first time, where he would continue participating throughout his career.

Picasso and the still life

For Picasso, life in all its forms - its tragedies, joys, and banalities; his great loves and his children; the people, places and events that shaped him - fed his insatiable need to create.

Consequently, every one of his works is deeply autobiographical - a reflection of a time, emotion or state of mind.

Just as a portrait by the artist is never just a straightforward depiction of a sitter, so a still life is never solely a meaningless assortment of objects.

Ulpiano Checa y Sanz | Orientalist painter

Ulpiano Checa y Sanz (1860-1916) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, poster designer and illustrator, known in the art world as Ulpiano Fernández-Checa y Saiz.

He used both impressionistic and academic techniques, and painted mainly historical subjects.

Checa participated in numerous Salons of Paris and in many of them was awarded.

He studied at the Academy of fine arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where he was student of Federico de Madrazo, Alejandro Ferrant, Manuel Domínguez and Pablo Gonzalvo.