This Madrid painter is regarded as one of the leading figures in Spain’s “lost generation”.

He began his studies outside Spain, at the Central School of Art and Design in London. His regular formative visits to New York and Paris helped him to shape his style. A decisive turning point was his trip to Holland, where he came into contact with the Cobragroup, which influenced him with its theories rejecting the rigidity of geometric abstractionin favour of greater spontaneity, rather than pre-established precepts, primitivism, and violence of line.

Although his early work was linked to

 Informalism 

Term coined by the French art critic Michel Tapié (under the name of art informel) to define the art movement that covers a whole range of abstract and gestural trends that emerged in Europe in the 1940s in parallel with the development of

 Abstract Expressionism 

This contemporary painting movement emerged within the field of abstraction in the 1940s in the United States, from where it spread worldwide. Rooted in similar premises and postulates as Surrealism, the Abstract Expressionist artists regarded the act of painting as a spontaneous and unconscious activity, a dynamic bodily action divested of any kind of prior planning. The works belonging to this movement are defined by the use of pure, vibrant primary colours that convey a profound sense of freedom. The movement’s main pioneers were, among others, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880-1966). Leading Spanish exponents of the movement are Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) and José Guerrero (1914-1991), who lived for some time in New York City, where they were in first-hand contact with the many artistic innovations taking place there around that time.

in America. The movement is defined by a non-figurative language that lends a very significant role to the use of materials. The defining moment for Informalismo in Spain was in the 1950s, with a generation of artists whose languages embraced both European Art Informel and American

 Abstract Expressionism 

This contemporary painting movement emerged within the field of abstraction in the 1940s in the United States, from where it spread worldwide. Rooted in similar premises and postulates as Surrealism, the Abstract Expressionist artists regarded the act of painting as a spontaneous and unconscious activity, a dynamic bodily action divested of any kind of prior planning. The works belonging to this movement are defined by the use of pure, vibrant primary colours that convey a profound sense of freedom. The movement’s main pioneers were, among others, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880-1966). Leading Spanish exponents of the movement are Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) and José Guerrero (1914-1991), who lived for some time in New York City, where they were in first-hand contact with the many artistic innovations taking place there around that time.

. These included, among others, Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), Josep Guinovart (1927-2007), August Puig (1929-1999), Antonio Saura (1930-1998), Manolo Millares (1926-1972) and Rafael Canogar (1935).

, from the seventies he evolved towards a new figurativism full of expressiveness and creative freedom.

In this painting he combines two different genres: landscape and still life. The fragmentation of forms is intensified by the way the paint is applied, deliberately flowing in apparently neutral green and blue tonalities. Drawing becomes very important as an organisational factor to help delimit the spaces. Thus the straight lines structure the modules while the curves form ingenious shapes, such as the cerulean blue cone which captures the viewer’s attention. The way this work is framed, through a window from which one can see a flower with a stylised stalk, shows a certain Fauvist influence.