Spain has a rich and complex history that spans centuries of political, religious, and artistic influences and still influences many other cultures.
Some of the best testimonies of these influences are present in the works of the most famous Spanish artists, who acted both as witnesses of the times they lived in and as catalysts of some of the most important cultural styles and trends.
Let’s meet some key artists in Spanish culture who shaped art history, and in turn, influenced much of our current artistic landscape, from TV shows to memes!
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Masters From The Golden Age And Darker Times
Around the 16th and 17th centuries, The Spanish Golden Age brought many significant changes and evolutions to Spanish culture, creating an environment for artists to push the limits of what could be achieved.
And even when this period was over, and the Spanish Empire entered a turbulent era, some artworks were able to reflect that through new visual elements which transcended their times.
These are some of the famous Spanish artists who made these developments happen.
1. Diego Velázquez: The Game-Changing Spanish Artist
The leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, Velázquez was a giant of the Baroque period in the 17th century.
He has become an absolute reference for painters ever since, with his mastery of portraiture, his amazing use of light and shadow (probably influenced by the works of Italian master Caravaggio), and with his iconic (and sometimes economic) brushwork.
“Las meninas”, Velázquez’s masterpiece, depicts Margaret Theresa of Spain, the daughter of King Philip IV, surrounded by her entourage, with Velázquez himself located on the left of the painting. But is it just that?
Take a look at all the people (and the dog) portrayed, the mirror on the back wall, and how Velázquez seems to be looking at us: is he portraying the king and the queen that we see in what seems to be a mirror?
That’s still up for debate, but this painting is undoubtedly amazing.
2. Gregorio Hernández
Although its share of believers continues to decline, Catholicism has always been a significant part of Spanish culture. And few other artists defined the iconic images of Catholic rites and ceremonies like Gregorio Hernández.
His works with polychromed wood sculpture during the Baroque period produced intense and dramatic scenes that became a continuous presence in Holy Week processions.
For instance, look at Hernández’s take on the scene of The Pietá, or “Paso de la sexta Angustia”, from 1616, ordered by the Brotherhood of Nuestra Senora de las Angustias for their religious parades.
Beyond its realism and formal mastery, it's an example of how art can be conceived to be in movement, and not just to be still in an exhibition.
3. Francisco Goya: Spanish Artist And Master Of Romanticism
Goya’s paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected historical events of their time, like the final years of King Charles IV of Spain's rule, and the Napoleonic invasion that put it to an end in 1808.
They have also helped us understand some of the periods in his personal life: for example, his declining health in 1792 might have led him to cover darker subjects in his artwork.
His craft also pioneered some of the formal evolutions of art, that could later be seen in the works of Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.
“Saturn”, which you can see at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, is one of the haunting Black Pictures that Goya made towards the end of his life. It influenced German Expressionism and Surrealism, and it still inspires people for darkly funny memes.
Well-Known Spanish Artists With Big Dreams
From the late 19th century, these Spanish artists started building on the influence of their predecessors.
They brought forward forward-thinking visions that expanded artistic expression in both size and form and created new universes that capture what we could only see before in our dreams.
4. Antoni Gaudí
Active from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, this Spanish artist blurred the lines between nature and architecture and conceived his works with an innovative spatial sense (he rarely used blueprints, favouring three-dimensional models).
Although he became the main figure of Catalan Modernism, his works always went beyond the usual classifications.
The Sagrada Família church, to which Gaudi devoted his efforts as chief architect from 1883 until his death in 1926, is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, as well as the most-visited monument in Spain.
5. Pablo Picasso: One Of The Most Important Spanish Artists
Defiant, innovative, and extremely prolific (he is estimated to have created over 20,000 artworks in his lifetime!) Picasso became one of the biggest icons of 20th-century art as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist.
Every period in his career went on to influence other artists and artistic styles. And the political statements in some of his pieces still resonate today.
Picasso co-founded the Cubist movement, touched on neoclassicism and surrealism, went through Blue and Rose periods in his paintings, and even reinterpreted some of artwork by other great masters (including 44 versions of Velázquez’s “Las meninas”).
His output also travelled the globe, since you can find his works in dozens of museums around the world.
And although he lived most of his adult life in France, his most famous work depicts a tragic scene that took place in northern Spain: it’s “Guernica”, the moving mural he made in response to the bombing of the Basque Country town in 1937.
6. Joan Miró
Miró was a famous Spanish artist who painted, sculpted, and worked with ceramics.
He avoided academicism in favour of a pure and global expression that could be impossible to classify.
His wide and amazing style took him from the “dream pictures” he created in the 1920s to the monumental sculptures and murals he started producing in the 60s.
He was taciturn and self-contained, but his works created playful universes while showing his political and social sensitivity.
“The Birth of the World”, which he painted in 1925, is a symbol of the quests of the Surrealist movement at that time, as the unconscious and the improvised get an equal place with a language that was carefully expressed.
7. Salvador Dalí
If Miró struck you as an introvert, Dalí is his exact opposite: flamboyant, eccentric, and with a larger-than-life persona.
He was the face of avant-garde expression throughout the 20th century, with his paintings and films and also with an unavoidable influence on popular culture, from fashion magazines to candy wrapping.
The melting watches and the background of the coast of Catalonia in “The Persistence of Memory” (1931) are one of the finest representations of a dreamlike scene, or the passing of time.
They've made their way onto countless walls around the world (via posters), and even the Springfield Museum in The Simpsons.
Women Can Be Famous Spanish Artists, Too (Except For Frida Kahlo)
If you've ever looked up “Frida Kahlo” on Google, you may have gotten some dubious responses about her life: while she was indeed an immensely famous, talented and revolutionary painter, she was Mexican, not Spanish.
In fact, there have been many great female artists throughout Spain’s history, but most have been overlooked, and have only become more recognised in recent years.
The following are just three examples of this.
8. Remedios Varo: A Key Female Artist In Spanish Culture
This famous Spanish artist was a painter, writer, and graphic artist who lived in Mexico from 1941 (when she fled Nazi-dominated Europe) until her sudden death in 1963. She also spent one of those years in Venezuela, but always kept her Spanish nationality.
It was during those years in Latin America when her works flourished.
Her previous explorations and learnings on Surrealism gave way to new paintings that dealt with “the subconscious, the mystical and the metaphysical,” as the New York Times puts it, as well as her combined interests in tarot, astrology, alchemy, and science.
Her 1956 painting “Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente)” is a reflection of this very creative and successful period of her career.
The multiple and varied elements on display reflect her influences and passions, and also the astonishing evidence of the contemporary recognition of her art: in 2020, the painting was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $6.2 million.
9. Maruja Mallo
Another surrealist painter who went through exile (in her case, going to Argentina when the Spanish Civil War erupted), Mallo and the other women of the Generation of '27 were almost forgotten in Spain.
This well-known Spanish artist eventually returned to Spain in 1962, but her time in Latin America was very fruitful with:
- significant international exhibitions
- public speaking
- a collaboration with Sur magazine (which had Jorge Luis Borges as an occasional editor)
- the release of her 1939 book Lo popular en la plástica española a través de mi obra (What Is Popular in Spanish Plastic Art Through My Work), which seemed to anticipate her future friendship with Andy Warhol.
“Canto de las espigas” (Song of the Spikes), which Mallo made in Argentina in 1939, is one of her more famous works, and she said that she wanted it to be in “the hands of the people of Spain.”
Luckily, it’s one of the many paintings in the collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
10. Pepa Caballero
From her first exhibitions in the 60s to her death in 2012, Caballero’s career was unique.
She was known not only for her undeniable talent and recognition among the artistic community, but also because, as a Spanish female abstract artist, she was almost a complete exception in the male-dominated art scene.
In fact, she was the only female co-founder and member of Málaga’s Colectivo El Palmo, one of the most important artistic groups in the city’s history.
The mural that the Provincial Deputation of Málaga commissioned in 1985 for the neighbourhood of El Palo, where she lived, is a strong example of her explorations on light, colours and shapes at the time.
FAQs About Famous Spanish Artists
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Most Famous Spanish Artists
So there you have it – 10 famous Spanish artists you need to know about as a Spanish learner, art lover or both!
Do you enjoy visiting museums and talking about art? Start doing it in Spanish with this YouTube Short by StoryLearning Spanish teacher Beatriz!
