20th - 21st century. Spanish

Often regarded as a champion of the avant-garde in consideration of his bold painting, his work always engages in a dialogue with reality and in how the individual perceives it. The metaphysical dimension of his painting enables Orcajo to address his desires, anxieties and doubts as well as the contradictions inherent to the contemporary world.

After studying drawing and printmaking at the National Graphic Arts School and, in 1957, painting at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, in 1959 the artist won a scholarship from the French Government to travel to Paris. In this early period he focused on landscape and still life, combining academicist elements with a surreal and dream-like world indebted to Marc Chagall.

In the 1960s Orcajo joined the growing figurative movement that had emerged in opposition to Informalismo. His painting evolved towards a style akin to , in which landscapes of deserted and monumental spaces played a greater role.

The artist’s erstwhile worship of progress and technology later transmuted into a critical vision of society, rendering urban subject matters following constructivist and geometric patterns. Orcajo currently practices a more abstract painting and lends greater importance to the use of areas of colour, though without renouncing urban themes.

Ángel Orcajo’s work is highly valued by art critics, museum directors and painters alike, and his works are in the best Spanish and international collections and museums worldwide.