20th-21st Century Spanish

López was introduced to painting at the age of twelve by his uncle, the painter Antonio López Torres. He trained at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid from 1950 to 1955 and later on worked as a teacher there between 1965 and 1969.

His practice covers painting, sculpture, drawing and printing. In a style generally defined as Hyperrealism, López depicts his surrounding daily life, both in landscapes and interior views. This realistic focus however is imbued with surreal or magical elements introduced in his highly personal framing, his extraordinarily detailed technique and an iconography that shrouds the objects and daily events he portrays with a halo of mystery. Antonio López’s process of creation was examined in The Quince Tree Sun, a feature film directed by Víctor Erice.

In 1985, his practice was recognised with the Prince of Asturias Award, and in 2006 with the Velázquez Visual Arts Award. Furthermore, his work has been prominently displayed in major shows held at Museo Reina Sofía in 1993; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2008; or recently, in 2011, at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao to name just a few. He is currently Spain’s highest valued living artist.