Botones, 1984

Antonio Saura   Master Artists

Antonio Saura is a Spanish painter and writer born in 1930.

He began painting very early, in 1947, during his convalescence after battling tuberculosis. This illness kept him immobile for more than five years. Antonio Saura then began an artistic career in Madrid, and from 1953 onwards he made long and repeated stays in Paris.

Initially attracted to surreaism , Antonio eventually turned to what is known as Baroque Abstraction, a major characteristic of the Spanish group that was then forming El Paso, of which he was one of the founding members. A similar change occurred in his use of color, the very expressive colors of the early canvases giving way to monochrome gray tones with the maturity of his work.

Antonio Saura also designed stage sets for numerous plays, such as "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" in 1963, as well as for an opera, directed by his brother, "Carmen".

Antonio Saura died in 1998 in the city of Cuenca.