Manuel Viola

MANUEL VIOLA (Zaragoza, 1916 – San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 1987).
Untitled.
Mixed media on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 50 x 73 cm; 59 x 82 cm (frame).
A work representative of the Informalist and Abstract Expressionist style developed by Manuel Viola, characterized by energetic brushwork, textural quality, and an intense exploration of light and color. In contrast to the artist’s better-known compositions, which are dominated by blacks, whites, and blues.
Manuel Viola was one of the key figures of Spanish Informalism and a member of the historic El Paso group, which he joined in 1958. His career was initially marked by Surrealism and poetry, before evolving toward an Expressionist abstraction characterized by great gestural and chromatic intensity. Exiled to France after the Civil War, he came into contact with the European avant-garde there and returned to Spain in 1949. Viola is considered one of the great representatives of Spanish avant-garde painting in the second half of the 20th century. He participated in major national and international exhibitions and received, among other honors, the Gold Medal of the City of Zaragoza in 1980. His work is represented in major institutional collections, including the Reina Sofía National Art Museum, which holds six of the artist’s works, and the Bank of Spain Collection. His work is also featured in other prominent Spanish and international museum collections, such as the Jaume Morera Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Lleida, the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Elche, as well as in international institutions such as the Guggenheim in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in Liège.