Menchu Gal

MENCHU GAL (Irun, 1918 - 2008).
"Fuenterrabía".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 50 x 61 cm; 70 x 81 cm (frame).
This painting by Menchu Gal is a vibrant representation of Fuenterrabía, a small picturesque coastal town in the Basque Country. The scene shows a harbor filled with fishing boats floating peacefully on the waters, with a rich and luminous chromatic range in shades of blue, green and ochre. The loose, expressive brushstrokes add dynamism to the composition, while the reflection of the boats on the water's surface adds a delicate sense of depth. Fuenterrabía was a place of great personal and artistic importance to Menchu Gal, who frequently turned to its views and landscapes for inspiration. This corner of the Basque Country not only offered her a visually captivating setting, but also an emotional refuge and a link to her roots. Through works like this one, the artist captures the essence of the place with affection and expressiveness, making it a recurring source of beauty and identity throughout her career.
One of the great Spanish painters of the 20th century, Menchu Gal mainly painted landscapes, although she also painted portraits, always with her personal language of extreme, almost expressionist color. In 1959 she won the National Painting Prize, becoming the first woman to receive this prestigious award. She also received the Gold Medal of Guipuzcoa (2005), the Medal of Irun (2006) and the Manuel Lecuona Prize of Eusko Ikaskuntza (2006). Gal began painting in her native Irun, where she was a disciple of Gaspar Montes Iturrioz. She was awarded a prize in the Contest of New Artists of Guipuzcoa in 1932, and before she was fifteen years old she moved to Paris to further her artistic studies. There she received classes from the master of cubism Amédée Ozenfant, and discovered Matisse and Fauvism. On his return to Spain he continued his training at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he was taught by Aurelio Arteta and Vázquez Díaz, among others. After fleeing to France as a result of the Civil War, he returned to Irun and held his first solo exhibition in San Sebastian (1942). In 1943 he settled in the Spanish capital, where he was part of the so-called Madrid School. That same year he participated in a group exhibition held at the Clan gallery with Gutiérrez Solana, Vázquez Díaz, Cossío, Zabaleta, Palencia and others. Since then her landscapes of La Mancha and the Bidasoa will form her hallmark, establishing herself as one of the leading artists of the post-war period. In 1950 she held a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. An outstanding architect of the renovation of Spanish painting in the forties, valued and recognized in the difficult world of painting since her youth, Menchu Gal was characterized by her free, heterodox and independent spirit, ahead of her time. Throughout her career she starred in a multitude of exhibitions, both in Spain and abroad, in cities such as Venice, Brussels and New York. Particularly noteworthy were the exhibitions he held at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon in 1971 and at the Conde Duque Cultural Center in Madrid in 1990. In 1992 the Kutxa Foundation dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him, which was published in a catalog that included an in-depth study of his life and work. She also participated in three editions of the Venice Biennale. Menchu Gal is currently represented at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, among others. In January 2010 an exhibition hall bearing her name was inaugurated in Irun, the first step of the future Museum of Painters of Bidasoa.