Spanish art
Encyclopedia
Western art history
Western art is the art of the North American and European countries, and art created in the forms accepted by those countries.Written histories of Western art often begin with the art of the Ancient Middle East, Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Aegean civilisations, dating from the 3rd millennium BC...
(particularly influenced by Italy and France, especially during the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
and Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
periods) and producing many famous and influential artists (including Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
and Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
) Spanish art has often had distinctive characteristics and been assessed somewhat separately from other European schools. These differences can be partly explained by the Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
heritage in Spain (especially in Andalucía), and through the political and cultural climate in Spain during the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
and the subsequent eclipse of Spanish power under the Bourbon
Bourbon
- Food and drink :* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit* A beer produced by Brasseries de Bourbon* Bourbon coffee, a type of coffee made from a cultivar of coffea arabica...
dynasty.
Romanesque
In Spain, the art of the RomanesqueRomanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
period represented a smooth transition from the preceding Roman styles. A major centre for Romanesque frescoes was in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
with good examples in the churches of the Vall de Boí
Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de Boí
The Churches of the Vall de Boí are a set of nine Early Romanesque churches declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO and located in the Vall de Boí, in the Catalan comarque of Alta Ribagorça .- World Heritage Site :...
area; many of these were only uncovered during the 20th Century. The finest examples of Castillian
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
Romanesque frescoes are considered to be those in the San Isidoro
Basilica of San Isidoro
The Basilica of San Isidoro is a church in León, Spain, located on the site of an ancient Roman temple. Its Christian roots can be traced back to the early 10th century when a monastery for Saint John the Baptist was erected on the grounds....
in Leon
León, Spain
León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...
, the paintings from San Bauderlio in Castillas de Berlanga, Soria
Soria
Soria is a city in north-central Spain, the capital of the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile and León. , the municipality has a population of c. 39,500 inhabitants, nearly 40% of the population of the province...
and those from Santa Cruz de Maderuelo in Segovia
Segovia
Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
.
Gothic
The Gothic art of Spain represented a gradual development from previous Romanesque styles, being led by external models, first from France, and then later from Italy. Another distinctive aspect was the incorporation of MudejarMudéjar
Mudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
elements. Eventually the Italian influence, which transmitted Byzantine stylistic techniques and iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
, entirely displaced the initial Franco-Gothic style
Early Renaissance
Due to important economic and political links between Spain and Flanders from the mid-15th century onwards, the early Renaissance in Spain was heavily influenced by Netherlandish paintingEarly Netherlandish painting
Early Netherlandish painting refers to the work of artists active in the Low Countries during the 15th- and early 16th-century Northern renaissance, especially in the flourishing Burgundian cities of Bruges and Ghent...
, leading to the identification of a Hispano-Flemish school of painters. Leading exponents included Fernando Gallego
Fernando Gallego
Fernando Gallego was a Spanish painter, brought up in an age of gothic style, his art is generally regarded as Hispano-Flemish style...
, Bartolome Bermejo
Bartolomé Bermejo
Bartolomé Bermejo was a Spanish painter who adopted Flemish painting techniques and conventions.-Biography:Bermejo, whose real name was Bartolomé de Cárdenas, was born in Córdoba...
, Pedro Berruguete
Pedro Berruguete
Pedro Berruguete was a Spanish painter; his art is regarded as a transitional style between gothic and Renaissance. Born in Paredes de Nava, Spain, he went to Italy in 1480 and worked in Federico III da Montefeltro's court in Urbino, where he could see some works by Melozzo da Forlì...
and Juan de Flandes
Juan de Flandes
Juan de Flandes was an Early Netherlandish painter who was active in Spain from 1496 to 1519; his actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Staat"...
.
Renaissance and Mannerism
Overall the Renaissance and subsequent Mannerist styles are hard to categorise in Spain, due to the mix of Flemish and Italian influences, and regional variations.The main centre for Italian Renaissance influence entering Spain was Valencia due to its proximity and close links with Italy. This influence was felt via the import of artworks, including four paintings by Piombo and many prints by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
, the arrival of the Italian Renaissance artist Paolo de San Leocadio
Paolo de San Leocadio
Pablo da San Leocadio or Paolo da Reggio was an Italian painter from Reggio Emilia, who was mostly active in Spain. In the 1450s or 1460 he moved to Ferrara, where he was influenced by local painters such as Bono da Ferrara and Ercole de' Roberti...
, and also by Spanish artists who spent time working and training there. Such artists included Fernando Yanez de la Almedina
Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina
Fernando or Hernando Yáñez de la Almedina was a Spanish painter. He was one of the most important early Renaissance painters in Spain. Of morisco origin, he went to Italy to study art, in the process becoming familiar with the work of Leonardo da Vinci...
(1475–1540) and Fernando Llanos
Hernando de los Llanos
Hernando de los Llanos was a Spanish painter active primarily around Cuenca for the duration of his career. Little is known about his life or training, though he appears to have been familiar with the models of Leonardo da Vinci and Domenico Ghirlandaio. He worked for a time in Valencia in...
, who displayed Leonadesque
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
features in their works, such as delicate, melancholic expressions, and sfumato
Sfumato
Sfumato is one of the four canonical painting modes of the Renaissance .The most prominent practitioner of sfumato was Leonardo da Vinci, and his famous painting of the Mona Lisa exhibits the technique. Leonardo da Vinci described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or...
modelling of features.
Elsewhere in Spain, the influence of the Italian Renaissance was less pure, with a relatively superficial use of techniques that were combined with preceding Flemish practices and incorporated Mannerist features, due the relatively late examples from Italy, once Italian art was already strongly Mannerist. Apart from technical aspects, the themes and spirit of the Renaissance were modified to the Spanish culture and religious environment. Consequently, very few classical subjects or female nudes were depicted, and the works frequently exhibited a sense of pious devotion and religious intensity - attributes that would remain dominant in much art of Counter Reformation Spain throughout the 17th Century, and beyond.
Important Mannerist artists included Vicente Juan Masip (1475–1550) and his son Juan de Juanes (1510–1579), the painter and architect Pedro Machuca
Pedro Machuca
Pedro Machuca is mainly remembered as the Spanish architect responsible for the design of the Palace of Charles V adjacent to the Alcazar in Granada. The significance of this work is that it represents likely the first major classic Renaissance style building in Spain...
(1490–1550), and Juan Correa de Vivar
Juan Correa de Vivar
Juan Correa de Vivar was a Spanish painter.-Life:Correa's date of birth has been determined to be around 1510. Records show he grew up wealthy...
(1510–1566).
However, the most popular Spanish painter of the early 17th Century was Luis de Morales
Luis de Morales
Luis de Morales was a Spanish painter born in Badajoz, Extremadura. Known as "El Divino", most of his work was of religious subjects, including many representations of the Madonna and Child and the Passion....
(1510?-1586), called by his contemporaries "The Divine", because of the religious intensity of his paintings. From the Renaissance he also frequently used sfumato modeling, and simple compositions, but combined them with Flemish style precision of details. His subjects included many devotional images, including the Virgin and Child.
Spanish Golden Age
El GrecoEl Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
(1541–1614) was one of the most individualistic painters of the period, developing a strongly Mannerist style, in contrast to the naturalist approaches preominant in Seville, Madrid and elsewhere in Spain at the time. Many of his works reflect the silvery-greys and strong colours of Venetian painters such as Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, but combined with strange elongations of figures, unusual lighting, disposing of perspective space, and filling the surface with very visible and expressive brushwork.
Francisco Zurbarán
Francisco Zurbarán
Francisco de Zurbarán was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes...
is known for the forceful, realistic use of chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
in his religious paintings and still-lifes.
Velázquez
Diego VelázquezDiego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
(1599–1660) was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
. In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners. In many portraits, Velázquez gave a dignified quality to less fortunate members of society like beggars and dwarfs. In contrast to these portraits, the gods and goddesses of Velázquez tend to be portrayed as common people, without divine characteristics. Besides the forty portraits of Philip by Velázquez, he painted portraits of other members of the royal family, including princes, infantas (princesses), and queens.
Baroque
Rubens
Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens , the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens Rubens is often used to refer to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), the Flemish artist.Rubens may also refer to:- People :Family name* Paul Rubens (composer) Rubens is...
and van Dyck. Significant Spanish painters taking up the new style were Juan Carreno de Miranda
Juan Carreño de Miranda
Juan Carreño de Miranda was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period.Born in Avilés in Asturias, son of a painter with the same name, Juan Carreño de Miranda. His family moved to Madrid in 1623, and he trained in Madrid during the late 1620s as an apprentice to Pedro de Las Cuevas and Bartolomé Roman...
(1614–1685), Francisco Rizi
Francisco Rizi
Francisco Rizi was a Spanish painter born at Madrid.He was the son of Antonio Rizi, a native of Bologna, who had accompanied Federico Zuccari into Spain....
(1614–1685) and Francisco de Herrera the Younger (1627–1685), son of Francisco de Herrera the Elder an initiator of the naturalist emphasis of the Seville School. Other notable Baroque painters were Claudio Coello
Claudio Coello
Claudio Coello was a Spanish Baroque painter. Influenced by many other artists, including Diego Velázquez who was also of Portuguese descent, Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century....
(1642–1693) and Juan de Valdes Leal
Juan de Valdés Leal
Juan de Valdés Leal was a Spanish painter of the Baroque era.He was born in Seville in 1622, and distinguished himself as a painter, sculptor, and architect. He worked for a time under Antonio del Castillo. Among his works are a History of the Prophet Elias for the church of the Carmelites; a...
(1622–1690).
The pre-eminent painter of the period - and most famous Spanish painter prior to the 19th century appreciation of Velázquez, Zurbarán and El Greco - was Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
(1617–1682). Working for most of his career in Seville, his early work reflected the naturalism of Caravaggio, using a subdued, brown palette, simple but not harsh lighting, and religious themes that are portrayed in a natural or domestic setting, as in his Holy Family with a Little Bird (c. 1650). Later he incorporated elements of the Flemish Baroque from Rubens and Van Dyck. In the Soult Immaculate Conception, a brighter and more radiant colour range is used, the swirling cherubs bringing all the focus upon the Virgin, whose heavenward gaze and diffuse and warmly glowing halo make it an effective devotional image, an important component of his output; the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin theme alone was represented about twenty times by Murillo.
18th century
The beginning of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain under Philip VPhilip V of Spain
Philip V was King of Spain from 15 November 1700 to 15 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son Louis, and from 6 September 1724, when he assumed the throne again upon his son's death, to his death.Before his reign, Philip occupied an exalted place in the royal family of France as a...
led to great changes in art patronage, with the new French-oriented court favoring the styles and artists of Bourbon France. Few Spanish painters were employed by the court – a rare exception being Miguel Jacinto Melendez (1679–1734) – and it took some time before Spanish painters adapted to the new Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
and Neoclassical
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
styles. Leading European painters, including Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...
and Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs was a German painter, active in Rome, Madrid and Saxony, who became one of the precursors to Neoclassical painting.- Biography :Mengs was born in 1728 at Ústí nad Labem in Bohemia...
, were active and influential.
Restricted from royal sponsorship, many Spanish painters continued the Baroque style in religious compositions. This was true of Francisco Bayeu y Subias
Francisco Bayeu y Subías
Francisco Bayeu y Subias was a Spanish painter, active in a Neoclassic style, whose main subjects were religious and historical themes....
(1734–1795), a skilled fresco painter, and of Mariano Salvador Maella
Mariano Salvador Maella
Mariano Salvador Maella was a Spanish painter.Born in Valencia, Maella moved to Madrid, where he studied sculpture with Felipe de Castro in Madrid, and painting with a poorly known painter by the surname González. He became painter of the chamber to the king and director general of the Academia...
(1739–1819) who both developed in the direction of the severe Neoclassicism of Mengs. Another important avenue for Spanish artists was portraiture, which was an active sphere for Antonio Gonzalez Velazquez (1723–1794), Joaquin Inza (1736–1811) and Agustin Esteve
Agustín Esteve
Agustín Esteve y Marqués was a Spanish painter, mainly active in the Royal household in Madrid.-Biography:Agustín Esteve was a portraitist to the Spanish Crown, who was influenced by Francisco Goya, including numerous copies of portraits by the great master. Among his masterworks is the portrait...
(1753–1820). But it is in the genre of the still life that some of the most impressive Spanish paintings of the 18th century were made, in the works by artists such as Bartolome Montalvo
Bartolomé Montalvo
Bartolomé Montalvo was a Spanish painter born in Sangareta near Segovia. He was a pupil of Zacarías Velazquez. He was admitted to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando on 6 April 1814. In 1816 became pintor de cámara for King Fernando VII. He specialized in painting landscapes, hunted...
(1769–1846) and particularly, Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780).
Continuing in the Spanish still life tradition of Sánchez Cotán
Juan Sánchez Cotán
Juan Sánchez Cotán was a Spanish Baroque painter, a pioneer of realism in Spain. His still lifes, also called bodegones were painted in a strikingly austere style, especially when compared to similar works in Netherlands and Italy.- Life:Sánchez Cotán was born in the town of Orgaz, near Toledo, Spain...
and Zurbarán, Meléndez produced a series of cabinet paintings, commissioned by the Prince of Asturias
Prince of Asturias
Prince of Asturias is the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish throne. It was also the title under the earlier Kingdom of Castile. The current Prince of Asturias is Felipe, son of King Juan Carlos of Spain and Queen Sofía...
, the future King Charles IV
Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
, intended to show the full range of edible foods from Spain. Rather than being merely formal studies in Natural History, he used stark lighting, low viewpoints and severe compositions to dramatise the subjects. He showed great interest and attention to the details of reflections, textures and highlights (such the highlight on the patterned vase in Still Life with Oranges, Jars, and Boxes of Sweets) reflecting the new spirit of the age of Enlightenment.
Goya
Francisco GoyaFrancisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
was a portraitist and court painter to the Spanish Crown, a chronicler of history, and, in his unofficial work, a revolutionary and a visionary. Goya painted the Spanish royal family, including Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
and Ferdinand VII. His themes range from merry festivals for tapestry, draft cartoons, to scenes of war, fighting and corpses. In his early stage, he painted draft cartoons as templates for tapestries and focused on scenes from everyday life with vivid colours. During his lifetime, Goya also made several series of "grabados", etchings which depicted the decadence of society and the horrors of war. His most famous painting series are the Black Paintings
Black Paintings
The Black Paintings is the name given to a group of paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819–1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and by then, his bleak outlook on humanity...
, painted at the end of his life. This series features works that are obscure in both colour and meaning, producing uneasiness and shock.
19th Century
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, Realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
and Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
became important strands. However, they were often delayed or transformed by local conditions, including repressive governments, and by the tragedies of the Carlist Wars
Carlist Wars
The Carlist Wars in Spain were the last major European civil wars in which contenders fought to establish their claim to a throne. Several times during the period from 1833 to 1876 the Carlists — followers of Infante Carlos and his descendants — rallied to the cry of "God, Country, and King" and...
. Portraits and historical subjects were popular, and the art of the past - particularly the styles and techniques of Velazquez - were significant.
Early years were still dominated by the academicism of Vincente Lopez (1772–1850) and then the Neoclassicism of the French painter, Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...
, as in the works by Jose de Madrazo (1781–1859), the founder of an influential line of artists and gallery directors. His son, Federico de Madrazo (1781–1859), was a leading figure in Spanish Romanticism, together with Leonardo Alenza
Leonardo Alenza
Leonardo Alenza was a Spanish painter and engraver. He was born in Madrid. He studied art under Juan Rivera and José de Madrazo, and became a good portrait painter, but was more especially famous for his pictures of the lower classes at play and work. He became a member of the Royal Academy of San...
(1807–1845),
Valeriano Dominguez Becquer and Antonio Maria Esquivel.
The later part of the century saw a strong period of Romanticism represented in history paintings, as in the works of Antonio Gisbert
Antonio Gisbert
Antonio Gisbert Pérez was a Spanish artist situated on the cusp between the realist and romantic movements in art. He was known for painting pictures of important events in a country's history in a realistic style, yet clearly with a political aim as well; his variance in styles puts him in the...
(1834–1901), Eduardo Rosales
Eduardo Rosales
Eduardo Rosales was a Spanish realist painter. He joined the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1851, studying under Federico de Madrazo.-References:*...
(1836–1873) and Francisco Pradilla (1848–1921). In these works the techniques of Realism were frequently used with Romantic subjects. This can clearly be seen in Joan the Mad, a famed early work by Pradilla. The composition, facial expressions, and stormy sky reflect the dramatic emotion of the scene; yet the precise clothing, the texture of the mud, and other details, show great realism in the artist's attitude and style. Mariano Fortuny
Mariano Fortuny (painter)
Marià Fortuny i Marsal , known more simply as Marià Fortuny or Mariano Fortuny, was a Catalan painter...
(1838–1874) also developed a strong Realist style, after earlier being infuenced by the French Romantic Eugène Delacroix
Eugène Delacroix
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
, and became Spain's famous artist of the century
The Valencian
Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) excelled in the dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land, thus reflecting the spirit of Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
in many paintings, particularly his famous seaside paintings. In Children on the beach he makes the reflections, shadows and gloss of the water and skin his true subject. The composition is very daring, with the horizon omitted, one of the boys cut off, and strong diagonals leading to the contrasts and increased saturation of the upper-left of the work.
20th Century
As perhaps the most important example of this, Picasso, working together with the French artist Braque, created the concepts of Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
; and the sub-movement of Synthetic Cubism has been judged to have found its purest expression in the paintings and collages of Madrid-born Juan Gris
Juan Gris
José Victoriano González-Pérez , better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life...
. In a similar way, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
became a central figure of the Surrealist movement in Paris; and Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
was influential in abstract art.
Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's Blue Period (1901–1904),which consisted of somber, blue-tinted paintings was influenced by a trip through Spain. The Museu Picasso
Museu Picasso
The Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain, has one of the most extensive collections of artworks by the 20th century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. This is one of the most popular and most visited museums in Barcelona. The museum is housed in five adjoining medieval palaces in Barcelona's La Ribera.The...
in Barcelona features many of Picasso's early works, created while he was living in Spain, as well as the extensive collection of Jaime Sabartés, Picasso's close friend from his Barcelona days who, for many years, was Picasso's personal secretary. There are many precise and detailed figure studies done in his youth under his father's tutelage, as well as rarely seen works from his old age that clearly demonstrate Picasso's firm grounding in classical techniques. Picasso presented the most durable homage to Velázquez in 1957 when he recreated Las Meninas
Las Meninas (Picasso)
Las Meninas is a serie of 58 paintings that Pablo Picasso painted in 1957 by performing a comprehensive analysis, reinterpreting and recreating several times Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez. The suite is fully preserved at the Museu Picasso in Barcelona and is the only complete series of the artist...
in his characteristically cubist form. While Picasso was worried that if he copied Velázquez's painting, it would be seen only as a copy and not as any sort of unique representation, he proceeded to do so, and the enormous work—the largest he had produced since Guernica in 1937—earned a position of relevance in the Spanish canon of art.
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
was a central artist within the Surrealist movement in Paris. Although Dalí was criticized for accommodating Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's regime, André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
, the Surrealist leader and poet, asked him to represent Spain at the 1959 Homage to Surrealism Exhibition which celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Surrealism. In line with the Surrealist movement's objectives, Dalí stated that his artistic aim was that "...the world of imagination and of concrete irrationality may be as objectively evident ... as that of the exterior world...", and this goal can be seen in his most familiar painting, The Persistence of Memory
The Persistence of Memory
The Persistence of Memory is a 1931 painting by artist Salvador Dalí, and is one of his most recognizable works. The painting has been in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1934...
. Here he paints with a precise, realistic style, based on studies of Dutch and Spanish masters, but with a subject that dissolves the boundaries between organic and mechanical and is more akin to the nightmarish scenes of the Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, whose Garden of Earthly Delights provided the model for the central, sleeping figure of Dalí's work.
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
was also closely associated with the Surrealists in Paris, who particularly approved of his use of automatism
Surrealist automatism
Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar, or perhaps parallel phenomena, such as the non-idiomatic improvisation of free jazz....
in composition and execution,designed to expose the subconscious mind. Although his later and more popular paintings are refined, whimsical and apparently effortless, his influential period in the 1920s and 1930s produced works that were provocative in their sexual symbolism and imagery, and employing rough, experimental materials, including sandpaper, unsized canvases, and collage. In mature period painting, La Leçon de Ski, his characteristic language of signs, figures and black linear forms against more textured and painterly background is evident.
Post WW2
In the post-War period, the Catalan artist Antoni TàpiesAntoni Tàpies
Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies is a Catalan painter. He is one of the most famous European artists of his generation. After studying law for 3 years, he devoted himself from 1943 onwards only to his painting...
became famous for his abstract works, many of which use very thick textures and the incorporation of non-standard materials and objects. Tapies has won several international awards for his works.
Sculpture
The Plateresque style extended from beginnings of the 16th century until the last third of the century and its stylistic influence pervaded the works of all great Spanish artists of the time.Alonso Berruguete
Alonso Berruguete
Alonso González de Berruguete was a Spanish painter, sculptor and architect. He is considered to be the most important sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance, and is known for his emotive sculptures depicting religious ecstasy or torment.Born in the town of Paredes de Nava, Berrugete studied art...
(sculptor, painter and architect) is called the "Prince of Spanish sculpture" because of the grandeur, originality, and expressiveness achieved in his works.
His main works were the upper stalls of the choir of the Cathedral of Toledo
Cathedral of Toledo
The Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Toledo, Spain, seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toledo....
, the tomb of Cardinal Tavera in the same Cathedral, and the altarpiece of the Visitation in the church of Santa Úrsula in the same locality.
Another period of Spanish Renaissance sculpture, the Baroque, encompassed the last years of the 16th century and extended into the 17th century until reaching its final flowering the 18th, developing a truly Spanish school and style, of sculpture, more realistic, intimate and independently creative that that of the previous one which was tied to European trends, especially those of the Netherlands and Italy. There were two Schools of special flair and talent: the Seville School, to which Juan Martínez Montañés
Juan Martínez Montañés
Juan Martínez Montañés , known as el Dios de la Madera , was a Spanish sculptor, born at Alcalá la Real, in the province of Jaén. He was one of the most important figures of the Sevillian school of sculpture.His master was Pablo de Roxas. His first known work, dating 1597, is the graceful St...
belonged (called the Sevillian Fidias), whose most celebrated works are the Crucifix in the Cathedral of Seville, another in Vergara, and a Saint John; and the Granada School, to which Alonso Cano belonged, to whom an Immaculate Conception and a Virgin of Rosary, are attributed.
The Valladolid school of the 17th century was succeeded in the 18th century, although with less brilliance, by the Madrid School, and it was soon transformed into a purely academic style by the middle of the century. In turn, the Andalusian school was replaced by that of Murcia, epitomised in the person of Francisco Salzillo
Francisco Salzillo
Francisco Salzillo y Alcaraz was a Spanish sculptor. He is the most representative Spanish image-maker of the 18th century and one of greatest of the Baroque. Francisco Salzillo worked exclusively on religious themes, and almost always in polychromed wood...
, during the first half of the century. This last sculptor is distinguished by the originality, fluidity, and dynamic treatment of his works, even in those representations of great tragedy. More than 1,800 works are attributed to him, the most famous products of his hand being the Holy Week floats (pasos) in Murcia, most notable amongst which are those of the Agony in the Garden and the Kiss of Judas.
In the 20th century the most important Spanish sculptors was Julio González
Julio González (sculptor)
Juli González i Pellicer was a Catalan abstract and cubist painter and sculptor.-Biography:Born in Barcelona, as a young man he worked with his older brother, Joan, in his father's metal smith workshop. Both brothers took evening classes in art at the Escuela de Bellas Artes...
, Pablo Gargallo
Pablo Gargallo
Pablo Emilio Gargallo was a Spanish sculptor and painter.Born in Maella, Aragon, he moved to Barcelona, Catalonia, with his family in 1888, where he would begin his training in the arts. Gargallo developed a style of sculpture based on the creation of three-dimensional objects from pieces of flat...
, Eduardo Chillida
Eduardo Chillida
Eduardo Chillida Juantegui, or Eduardo Txillida Juantegi in Basque, was a Spanish Basque sculptor notable for his monumental abstract works.-Early life and career:...
and Pablo Serrano.
Other artistic disciplines
- Architecture
- Handicraft
- Graphical arts
- CinematographyCinema of SpainThe art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...
- Dance
- Photography
- Comic strip
- MusicMusic of SpainThe Music of Spain has a long history and has played an important part in the development of western music. It has had a particularly strong influence upon Latin American music. The music of Spain is often associated abroad with traditions like flamenco and the classical guitar but Spanish music...
See also
- Iberian sculptureIberian sculptureIberian sculpture, a subset of Iberian art, describes the various sculptural styles developed by the Iberians from the Bronze age up to the Roman conquest...
, for the art of Iberian peoples before the Roman conquest - Pre-Romanesque artSpanish Pre-Romanesque artThe Pre-Romanesque art and architecture of the Iberian Peninsula refers to the art of Spain and Portugal after the Classical Age and before Romanesque art and architecture; hence the term Pre-Romanesque.Visigothic art, the art of the Visigoths to 711, is usually classified as Migration Period art...
refers to the art of Spain after the Classical Age and before Romanesque art and architecture. - Asturian artAsturian artPre-Romanesque architecture in Asturias is framed between the years 711 and 910, the period of the rise, extension and disappearance of the kingdom of Asturias.-Historical introduction:...
- Visigothic artVisigothic artThe Visigoths entered Hispania in 415, and they rose to be the dominant people there until the Moorish invasion of 711 brought their kingdom to an end.This period in Iberian art is dominated by their style...
- After the Moorish invasion of HispaniaUmayyad conquest of HispaniaThe Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
in the 8th century, eastern and Arabic art influenced Spanish art and architecture, such as at the Alcázar of SevilleAlcázar of Sevillethumb|right|250px|Baths of Lady María de PadillaThe Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, originally a Moorish fort....
and the AlhambraAlhambraThe Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex located in the Granada, Andalusia, Spain...