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https://www.coleccionbbva.com/es/autor/palencia-benjamin/
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autor
14569
Benjamin Palencia
(Albacete, 1894 – Madrid 1980)
Author's artworks
20th Century Spanish
A self-taught artist, Palencia’s practice is a highly personal fusion of Surrealism,
Cubism
A term coined by the French critic Louis Vauxcelles (1870-1943) to designate the art movement that appeared in France in 1907 thanks to Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963), which brought about a definitive break with traditional painting. Widely viewed as the first avant-garde movement of the twentieth century, its main characteristic is the representation of nature through the use of two-dimensional geometric forms that fragment the composition, completely ignoring perspective. This visual and conceptual innovation meant a huge revolution and played a key role in the development of twentieth-century art.
and
Constructivism
an art and architecture movement born in 1914 in Russia which became known particularly after the October Revolution. The movement defends an active engagement of the artwork with its surrounding space. The term was first used by Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) in 1917 to contemptuously describe a work by Aleksander Rodchenko (1891-1956) and it did not have a positive connotation until the
Realist Manifesto
from 1920.
. Together with Pancho Cossío (1894-1970) and Francisco Bores (1898-1972), he developed a lyrical figuration that redirected cubist trends towards a brand of painting that highlighted the sentient value of colour and the recovery of Realism. In 1925 he took part in the
Exhibition of Iberian Artists
A show organised by the Society of Iberian Artists, which opened on 28 May 1925 at Palacio de Exposiciones in the Retiro Park in Madrid, as a public presentation of the work of members of the association. The exhibition gave the artists a chance to showcase their main interests and concerns: aligning Spanish art with the European avant-garde movements and renewing their relationship with the public. A number of lectures were organised to coincide with the event and several essays were published by art experts, which helped to reactivate the Spanish art scene of the time.
. He travelled throughout Europe with frequent stays in Paris—where he was in contact with other Spanish artists and became acquainted with the new avant-gardes—and in Italy. After returning to Madrid he had his first exhibition at the Palacio de Bibliotecas y Museos, where he subsequently exhibited on several occasions.
In 1927, together with Alberto Sánchez (1895-1962), he founded the
School of Vallecas
(1927-1936) founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez with the purpose of renewing Spanish art in line with what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Landscape became the main subject matter of this school, albeit a highly sober landscape influenced by Hispanic primitivism, fauvist colour, a surrealist approach and cubist order. The starting point was the arid, barren land on the outskirts of Madrid in the direction of Toledo, stripped of any superfluous object and worked with economic brushwork and a palette of earthy tones. This take on landscape straddled tradition and modernism. The School of Vallecas disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War, although it was the only school to rise from its ashes, reborn in the Second School of Vallecas (1939-1942).
, an attempt to renew Spanish art by establishing some distance with the attraction of the Paris-based avant-gardes and engaging more with images derived from the so-called Generation of ’98. The experience had an updated version after the Spanish Civil War in the
Second
School of Vallecas
(1927-1936) founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez with the purpose of renewing Spanish art in line with what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Landscape became the main subject matter of this school, albeit a highly sober landscape influenced by Hispanic primitivism, fauvist colour, a surrealist approach and cubist order. The starting point was the arid, barren land on the outskirts of Madrid in the direction of Toledo, stripped of any superfluous object and worked with economic brushwork and a palette of earthy tones. This take on landscape straddled tradition and modernism. The School of Vallecas disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War, although it was the only school to rise from its ashes, reborn in the Second School of Vallecas (1939-1942).
(1939-1942) the sequel to the first
School of Vallecas
(1927-1936) founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez with the purpose of renewing Spanish art in line with what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Landscape became the main subject matter of this school, albeit a highly sober landscape influenced by Hispanic primitivism, fauvist colour, a surrealist approach and cubist order. The starting point was the arid, barren land on the outskirts of Madrid in the direction of Toledo, stripped of any superfluous object and worked with economic brushwork and a palette of earthy tones. This take on landscape straddled tradition and modernism. The School of Vallecas disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War, although it was the only school to rise from its ashes, reborn in the Second School of Vallecas (1939-1942).
, founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez and disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War. After the war, the art group was reborn as the so-called Second
School of Vallecas
(1927-1936) founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez with the purpose of renewing Spanish art in line with what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Landscape became the main subject matter of this school, albeit a highly sober landscape influenced by Hispanic primitivism, fauvist colour, a surrealist approach and cubist order. The starting point was the arid, barren land on the outskirts of Madrid in the direction of Toledo, stripped of any superfluous object and worked with economic brushwork and a palette of earthy tones. This take on landscape straddled tradition and modernism. The School of Vallecas disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War, although it was the only school to rise from its ashes, reborn in the Second School of Vallecas (1939-1942).
. This second version was promoted, once again, by Palencia, but this time in the company of Francisco San José and a group of students from the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. The group contained most of the artists that would later make up the
School of Madrid
or Young School of Madrid, is a term coined by the art dealer and bookseller Karl Buchholz and the art critic Manuel Sánchez Camargo to name the group of Spanish painters—many of them from the Second
School of Vallecas
(1927-1936) founded in 1927 by Benjamín Palencia and Alberto Sánchez with the purpose of renewing Spanish art in line with what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Landscape became the main subject matter of this school, albeit a highly sober landscape influenced by Hispanic primitivism, fauvist colour, a surrealist approach and cubist order. The starting point was the arid, barren land on the outskirts of Madrid in the direction of Toledo, stripped of any superfluous object and worked with economic brushwork and a palette of earthy tones. This take on landscape straddled tradition and modernism. The School of Vallecas disbanded with the outbreak of the Civil War, although it was the only school to rise from its ashes, reborn in the Second School of Vallecas (1939-1942).
—who took part in the group exhibition held in 1945 at Galería Buchholz in Madrid. This group has sometimes been considered a mere commercial project driven by art critics and gallery owners with a view to creating a market for landscape painting.
. The Prado museum was the meeting point for these artists and El Greco their major influence. Landscape continued being the motif par excellence, although executed in more realistic tones, far from the experimentation of the initial period—ultimately, a more restrained landscape offering a refuge from the horrors of war.
.
In 1974 he was appointed to the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and in 1978 to the Sant Jordi Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona. In that same year he obtained the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.