Eduardo Arroyo

Eduardo Arroyo - Mickey

Biografía del Artista: Eduardo ArroyoMadrid, 1937 – 2018He is considered one of the main representatives of narrative figuration, a movement in which he stands out for the important political and social criticism reflected in his works. His career stands out, above all, for his ability to mix pre-existing images of diverse origin with a strong imprint of an illustrator. After finishing his journalism studies in 1957, he went to Paris, where he came into contact with Spanish exiles from the Civil War, which increased his political opposition to the Franco regime, very much reflected in his first works. During these years he developed a highly critical theme, not only towards the events around him, but also towards the most notable names of the cultural avant-garde, such as Duchamp and Miró. He lived in the French capital during the 60s and 70s and began to exhibit his work there. His first solo exhibition in 1961 at the Galerie Claude Levin consisted of a series of portraits of military and ecclesiastical figures. His style at this time was a critical figuration derived from Pop Art with iconographic elements that combined the demystification of art with political denunciation, combined with Dadaist and surrealist influences. His political stance meant that his work was barely known in Spain. In 1963, his exhibition at the Biosca Gallery in Madrid of a series of portraits of the dictators Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Salazar (now in the Reina Sofía Museum), was censored. Once democracy arrived, and at the same time as his figure was being discovered, recognition also came to him, with awards such as the National Plastic Arts Award in 1982, the retrospective exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou that same year, and the one at the Reina Sofía Museum in 1998. A multifaceted artist (more than 2,000 works produced throughout his life), passionate about boxing (he left a library with more than 4,000 titles on this sport), writer, designer of musical and theatrical sets (for works by Wagner, Enrique Granados, Verdi, Brecht, Fernando Arrabal and Calderón de la Barca) and posters, and illustrator of literary works such as The Bible and Don Quixote. His work has been exhibited in institutions such as the Museo del Prado and is part of the collections of the main contemporary art museums in Spain (Bellas Artes in Bilbao, IVAM in Valencia, MACBA in Barcelona or Artium in Vitoria) and abroad (Nationalgalerie in Berlin, Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Guggenheim Museum in New York or Hirshhorn Museum in Washington) as well as in many institutional collections (public administrations, financial entities, companies,...) around the world.