Luis Feito

LUIS FEITO (Madrid, 1929 – Rascafría, Madrid, 2021).
Untitled, c. 1980.
Watercolors on paper (diptych).
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 21 x 57 cm (x2); 34 x 114 cm (frame).
Created around 1980, this work reflects the evolution of Luis Feito’s abstract language toward a more luminous, spontaneous, and chromatically intense expression. In contrast to the restraint of his earlier compositions, dominated by blacks, ochres, and whites, the artist here incorporates a range of reds, blues, and oranges that unfold across the paper with great freedom. The transparency of the washes and the fluidity of the brushstrokes lend the composition a distinctly gestural quality, where color takes on movement and lightness. The work reflects how, during the 1980s, his aesthetic was radically refined, adopting smoother surfaces and a compositional mysticism close to minimalism and Eastern Zen.
Luis Feito was one of the leading figures of Spanish abstraction and a founding member of the El Paso group. After training in Madrid, he settled in Paris in 1956, where he came into contact with the international avant-garde and developed an abstract language characterized by the intensity of color—especially red—and the simplification of forms. Throughout his career, he exhibited in major cities across Europe, the Americas, and Asia; received numerous awards; and his work is included in the collections of prominent international museums, such as MoMA in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and the Guggenheim.