Contemporary Spanish Painters

The secret life of painting

Painting is a state of mind, "a state of soul" says Joaquín Sorolla. The Spanish painter who makes his work a way of life paints all day, every day. He paints even when he is not painting. When he sleeps, he paints, when he watches, he paints. The gift of being a painter has hidden the poison and the sweet charge of total dedication and consecration. Spanish painting is difficult and requires absolute attention of mind and hand in cold, calm and steady observation.

You have to be able to keep huge amounts of combinations of colors, spaces and lines. It is essential to equip yourself with countless technical resources, an accurate knowledge of the materials and to keep everything alive and up to date so that you can use it at the most unexpected moment.

Spanish artists who changed their times and marked future generations

Language learning is not just about teaching a set of vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation points.

A language is above all a culture, cultures, ways of speaking, living, working together, but also artists, works, which is why each lesson ends with an extract from cinema, literature, music or even painting.

Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)

A reference throughout the world, the Spanish painter and neoclassical engraver Francisco de Goya continues to amaze us with his exemplary works. His passion for the art world began at the age of 14, when he began an apprenticeship with his mentor José Luzán and imitated the works of great masters such as Rembrandt or Velázquez. Goya's talent became obvious to the royal aristocracy of his time: in 1786, he became the official court painter and reached the peak of his career. His new status allowed him to join a circle of progressive intellectuals inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment.

Suffering from a serious illness at the age of 47 (he became deaf), Goya withdrew from society and undertook a series of religious and dark paintings. Saturno devorando a un hijo (Saturn devouring one of his sons) is undoubtedly the most representative work.

A committed painter, he does not hesitate to represent his political opinions in his paintings: in El pelele (The puppet), he represents the condition of women in Spain, often reduced to silence by men. He seeks to denounce the influence of the Church within society and attacks religious authority by signing two outstanding works: La Maja Vestida and La Maja Desnuda. Goya also puts his talent at the service of his commitment to peace. He notably painted Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War) to denounce the horror of combat. As for his symbolic paintings Dos de Mayo and Tres de Mayo (1814), they are now on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Born of a Mexican mother and a German father, Frida Kahlo (known in particular by her mono eyebrow) grew up in the popular district of Coyoacán in the south of Mexico City. An excellent student, her life was turned upside down for the first time by her illness. Suffering from poliomyelitis at the age of 6, she partially lost the use of her right leg; her classmates nicknamed her “ Frida la coja ” (“Frida the lame”). In 1925, a road accident marks her life forever, pain in her spine will never leave her.

Following this event (which she depicts in her work The Broken Column in 1944), his suffering became the driving force behind his creation. She was introduced to portraits and still lifes, but it was self-portraits that would hold a prominent place in her artistic life. True means of expression of his personal story, his self-portraits (more than 55 during his lifetime) testify to his physical and moral suffering. Among the most significant, The Henry Ford Hospital (1932) which reflects the pain that the painter felt during her first miscarriage, or Self-portrait with a monkey in 1945.

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)

“ I'm too smart to be a good painter ”. The Catalan painter with mustache Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was a very extravagant and multifaceted Spanish artist. A major figure in surrealism, his works are distinguished by their strong symbolic character, inspired by the dreams and fears of the artist.

Described by his peers as eccentric, meticulous and fascinated by Freudian theories, Dalí marked the history of surrealism as much as that of modern art. Among his best-known paintings, La persistencia de la memoria (The Persistence of Memory) was painted in 1931. In this surreal scene, Dalí imagines metal watches melting. A way for him to highlight the lost battle against time.

Very often, his portraits have a political connotation. El Ángelus de Gala (1935) is a perfect example; Dali painted Lenin there in the pose of preliminary expectation of the praying mantis. Lenin will also appear in several of his works, Six images of Lenin on a piano (1931) or The enigma of William Tell (1933) . The latter will also earn him the virtual exclusion of the surrealist movement