Constantino Grandío

CONSTANTINO GRANDIO LÓPEZ (Santa Olalla de Lousada, Lugo, 1924–1977).
"Burrito," 1965.
Oil on canvas.
Signed on the front, signed and dated on the back.
Certificate by Luis María Caruncho is included.
Measurements: 81 x 60 cm; 97 x 76 cm (frame).

In “Burrito,” Grandío offers a deeply lyrical and restrained vision of a humble subject: the figure of a small donkey. Executed in grayscale, the work is built using a subtle range of grays that lend the animal an almost spectral presence, suspended between light and shadow. The painterly treatment, with its restrained brushwork and silent atmosphere, reveals the poetic sensibility that characterizes the artist’s most introspective work. Through this chromatic austerity, Grandío achieves an emotional intensity that transcends the merely figurative, evoking the fragility and nobility of the Galician rural world.

Tino Grandío, a key figure in 20th-century Galician painting, was a self-taught artist with deep humanist roots. After training in Lugo and Santiago, he moved to Madrid in 1949, where he became associated with the Madrid School with the support of Cristino Mallo and Díaz Caneja. His career soon gained international recognition: he participated in the Hispanic-American Biennial in Barcelona (1955) and held exhibitions in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, New York, Munich, and Alexandria. He was awarded numerous prizes, including the Grand International Prize for Painting at the Marbella Biennial (1971) and three medals at the National Fine Arts Exhibitions (1962, 1964, 1966).
Following his death, his work has been the subject of major retrospective exhibitions, such as the one organized by the Provincial Council of Lugo (1979) and the one at the Museum of Fine Arts in A Coruña (2005) titled “Painting with the Mists.” His work is represented at the Galician Center for Contemporary Art in Santiago de Compostela, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, and in numerous public and private collections in Europe and the Americas.