Manolo Valdés

Born in Valencia in 1942, Manolo Valdés is a Spanish painter and sculptor whose career spans more than sixty years of art history. Trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia from 1957, he joined the Estampa Popular group, which used painting to criticize the Franco dictatorship. At Galerie de Bellefeuille, we are proud to count Manolo Valdés among the modern masters we present, through a selection of paintings and sculptures.

The Equipo Crónica years

In 1964, Valdés exhibited at the XVI Salon de la Jeune Peinture in Paris, organized by Arroyo, Aillaud and Recalcati. It was during this period that he founded, with Rafael Solbes and Joan Antoni Toledo, the collective Equipo Crónica. Its aesthetic, marked by a strong narrative vocation, stood apart from the Art Informel and Expressionism that dominated the era.

The group drew on American Pop Art, adopting its codes while giving them an entirely different dimension. From 1965 onward, the collective, by then made up solely of Valdés and Solbes, took part in numerous exhibitions, acquiring a notoriety that extended well beyond Spain's borders.

A dialogue with the masters

Following the death of Rafael Solbes in 1981, Valdés began a solo career. An avid art historian, he reinterprets the masterpieces of the past: with Diego Velázquez, he approaches the mysteries of Las Meninas; with Pablo Picasso, he turns to the geometry of the Cubist portrait; with Henri Matisse, he pays homage to Femme au chapeau, the first Fauvist painting; with Jan Van Eyck, he reinterprets the brilliance of colour and light in the self-portrait Portrait of a Man.

With just a few strokes, each Valdés painting captures the lines of an iconic image and carries it into modernity. The figure of Mariana de Austria by Velázquez, already present during the Equipo Crónica period, becomes a recurring leitmotif in his work.

Manolo Valdés sculpture

Based in New York since 1990, Valdés creates powerful works using unusual materials - jute canvas folded, stitched or treated with paint and tar. The rigidity of these materials mirrors the strength of the symbol: an eyebrow or the bridge of a nose is enough to evoke a masterpiece of the past, consecrated, thanks to Valdés, with a new modernity.

Distinctions and international recognition

• 1984 - Premio Nacional de Bellas Artes

• 1985 - Medalla de la Pintura Española

• 1999 - Represents Spain at the XLVIII Venice Biennale

• 2002 - The Guggenheim Bilbao dedicates the exhibition "Manolo Valdés. Pintura y Escultura" to his work

Notable exhibitions

• XVI Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Paris (1964)

• Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (2002)

• Spanish Pavilion, Venice Biennale (1999)

• Regular presentations at Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal and Toronto

Collecting Manolo Valdés

To acquire a Manolo Valdés painting or a sculpture from his celebrated body of work is to own a living dialogue with art history, carried by a resolutely contemporary vocabulary.

Collectors drawn to reinvented classical figures will also appreciate Fernando Botero's reinvention of the classical figure.

To discover the works of Manolo Valdés currently available, our team welcomes you to our spaces in Montreal and Toronto.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Manolo Valdés?

Manolo Valdés is a Spanish painter and sculptor born in Valencia in 1942, co-founder of the collective Equipo Crónica and a major figure in contemporary Spanish art, known for his reinterpretations of art-historical masters.

Where can I see or acquire a work by Manolo Valdés?

Galerie de Bellefeuille presents a selection of Manolo Valdés paintings and sculptures at its Montreal and Toronto spaces; our team is happy to guide you through the artist's work.

What is Equipo Crónica?

Equipo Crónica is a collective founded in 1964 by Manolo Valdés, Rafael Solbes and Joan Antoni Toledo, known for its narrative visual language drawn from Pop Art and its critique of the Franco dictatorship.