Alvar Suñol

ALVAR SUÑOL MUÑOZ-RAMOS (Montgat, Barcelona, 1935).
Untitled. 1971.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 147,5 x 297 cm; 150,5 x 300 cm (frame).

In this composition, Alvar Suñol creates an ethereal atmosphere with his characteristic post-cubist style. The three women, with large eyes and rounded ovals, embody archetypes that, in this case, evoke hope and spirituality symbolized by the doves and the flower with enormous petals that they hold in their hands. The background with the city (synthesized with cubic forms suggesting building blocks) connects the intimate world of the house with urban modernity. Although he simplifies the forms in a cubist and fauve style, Alvar does not renounce beauty or the warm, vibrant colors that give the work a poetic tone. The colors are soft but luminous, creating a cozy and mysterious atmosphere that highlights the symbolism of the elements represented. The work can be read as a celebration of peace and beauty in the midst of everyday life.

Alvar Suñol began oil painting at the age of twelve, and at seventeen he was accepted at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi, in Barcelona. Before graduating, he held his first solo exhibition, which took place in 1957 at the Layetanas Galleries in Barcelona. Suñol also won the Alhambra Travel Grant in Granada, a summer scholarship that allowed him to further his education in the Andalusian city. At the age of eighteen he took part in the Premio de Pintura Joven de la Ciudad de Barcelona, winning first prize. He was also awarded in the annual exhibition of the French Institute held in Barcelona, obtaining a scholarship to study in Paris, where he settled in 1959. There he showed his work in the prestigious Drouant gallery and, after returning fleetingly to Barcelona in 1960, he remained in the French capital for ten years. In 1962 he showed his work for the first time in the United States, at the Monede Gallery in New York. The following year he produced his first series of original lithographs for the Drouant Gallery. That same year, 1963, Suñol held a decisive personal exhibition in Paris, the starting point of a successful international career that would take him to exhibit all over the world, in cities in Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan. Alvar's work, the name by which he is known in the art world, is based on geometry but is always figurative, and is inspired by classical architecture, with frequent references to his favorite painters: Piero della Francesca, Vermeer and Balthus. His work is also characterized by a deeply personal chromatic range, based on particular, sometimes exotic, ochers and reds. He is currently represented at the MACBA, the Kumamoto and Fukoka Museums in Japan, the Finch College in New York, the Art Museums of Wichita, Utah and Albany (USA), the Hyacinthe Rigaud Museum in Perpignan and the Museum of Contemporary Engraving in Marbella, among others.