Manolo Valdés

MANOLO VALDÉS (Valencia, 1942)
"Count-Duke of Olivares," 1982.
Mixed media on burlap.
Signed on the reverse.
Provenance: private collection, Madrid.
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Manolo Valdés in New York on September 28, 2020.
Measurements: 200 x 150 cm; 202.5 x 152.5 cm (frame).

An important work by Manolo Valdés created in 1982, immediately following the dissolution of Equipo Crónica, a decisive period in the consolidation of his individual artistic language. The piece reinterprets the figure of the Count-Duke of Olivares, one of the great icons of Spanish Golden Age painting, drawing on an image linked to the world of Velázquez, a recurring theme in the artist’s career.

Valdés transforms the historical portrait into a powerful contemporary pictorial presence. The monumentality of the format, the use of burlap, and the limited color palette lend the figure an almost sculptural intensity. The figure is constructed through large dark masses, barely interrupted by the face, the hands, the ruff, and the diagonal line of the cane—elements that concentrate the visual tension of the composition.

The work belongs to a significant period in his career. Following the death of Rafael Solbes in 1981, Valdés embarked on a personal exploration focused on reinterpreting the great masters—Velázquez, Rembrandt, Matisse, and Picasso—from a contemporary perspective, refining historical images until they became symbols of immense artistic power. The Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, for example, holds a work by Valdés titled *Conde Duque Olivares II* from 1987, confirming the importance of this motif within his iconographic repertoire.

The economy of resources, the density of the black, and the frontal composition accentuate the image’s authoritarian and almost spectral character, transforming the portrait into a reflection on power, memory, and the history of painting. Due to its large format, early date, quality, certificate issued by the artist himself, and its place within one of Valdés’s most recognizable iconographic series, this work is a piece of particular significance within his body of work.

Manolo Valdés is one of the most internationally renowned contemporary Spanish artists. A co-founder of Equipo Crónica, he has developed a solid solo career since the 1980s, marked by his reinterpretation of art history. His work has been the subject of major exhibitions and retrospectives—including at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía—and has been shown in cities such as New York, Paris, and Venice. He has also installed monumental sculptures in international public spaces, cementing his presence on the global stage. His work is included in major collections such as the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, and the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, among others. A recipient of the National Prize for Visual Arts, his work is today among the most recognized and sought-after in Spanish contemporary art.