20th Century Spanish

Zabaleta trained in Madrid, at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, and became a member of the avant-garde literature and art circle at Café Pombo. He found a mentor in Eugenio d’Ors, who included him in his Salones de los Once, which were widely viewed as pioneering events of the time.

On a trip to Paris in 1949 he met Pablo Picasso. He took part in the 30^th Venice Biennale, where he presented 16 oil paintings and 10 drawings in what would be the most successful exhibition of his career.

After being influenced by Surrealism in the 1930s and also experimenting with Synthetic , from the 1940s onwards his painting embraced a realist style, although highly organised owing to his profound admiration for Paul Cézanne. With the passing of time, he gradually suppressed depth and began to apply a naïf spatial organisation. His thick-edged drawing clearly delimitated areas of bright colours. His subject matters resonated with the rural environment in which he lived: ploughed landscapes, interiors, portraits of peasants and still lifes.