Pintura nº76, de Rafael Canogar
CANOGAR, Rafael (Toledo, 1935)
Pintura nº 76 / Painting #76, 1961
Óleo sobre lienzo / Oil on canvas
Instalado de joven junto a su familia en Madrid, Rafael Canogar se formó de la mano del pintor Daniel Vázquez Díaz. En los cincuenta, viaja a París donde toma contacto con las vanguardias internacionales y lleva a cabo su primera inmersión en el terreno de la abstracción. De vuelta a España, forma el grupo madrileño El Paso. A mitad de los años sesenta trabaja el figurativismo y su dominio de la tridimensional alcanza puntos álgidos. Su malestar y preocupación por la España de la dictadura queda patente en la fragmentación de la figura humana, que representa en aglomeraciones y seccionada.
Es Gran Premio de la Bienal de Venecia (1971) y Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (1982); así como académico de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando y Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Entre sus numerosas exposiciones individuales puede destacarse la antológica del MEIAC (1972), la del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao (1990) y la retrospectiva que le dedica el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía en Madrid (2001). Actualmente se le dedica una extensa retrospectiva en Centro, Centro de Madrid bajo el título [I]Realidades: Obras 1949-2024.
Esta pieza corresponde a su época de pertenencia a El Paso, grupo artístico español creado en 1957 por el creador que nos ocupa, los también pintores Antonio Saura, Manuel Millares, Antonio Suárez, Manuel Rivera, Juana Francés y Luis Feito; los escultores Pablo Serrano y Martín Chirino; y los críticos José Ayllón y Manuel Conde. Entre los postulados de su Manifiesto destaca reivindicar una estética informalista y defender la apertura de la España franquista a las corrientes internacionales.
En esta pieza asistimos, desde una perspectiva nihilista, a una pintura de acción en la que prevalece la utilización de trazos, manchas y texturas cargadas de materia y movimiento. Desde un acto auténtico e irrepetible la figura parece representar, con violencia y dureza, un desmembramiento humano. El furor iconoclasta y la huida de toda apariencia visible son igualmente apreciables en las piezas que de este artista muestra el Museo de Arte Abstracto de Cuenca, conocido por albergar una importante selección de piezas del referido grupo.
English:
Rafael Canogar moved to Madrid with his family at a young age and recieved his art training under the painter Daniel Vázquez Díaz. In the 1950s, he travelled to Paris, where he discovered the international avant-garde and began exploring abstract art for the first time. After returning to Spain, he co-founded the Madrid-based group El Paso, which played a key role in renewing Spanish art during the post-war years. By the mid-1960s, Canogar shifted towards figurative art, developing a strong sense of three-dimensionality in his work. His discomfort with and concern about life under the Spanish dictatorship came through clearly in his art, especially in the way he portrayed the human figure—often fragmented, crowded, or cut into sections.
Over the years, Canogar has received several major awards, including the Grand Prize at the Venice Biennale in 1971 and Spain’s National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1982. He is also a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and has been named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.
Among his numerous solo exhibitions, the most notable are the retrospective at the MEIAC (1972), the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (1990), the retrospective dedicated to him by the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (2001), and the extensive retrospective at Centro, Madrid, entitled [I]Realidades: Obras 1949-2024.
This piece dates from his time as a member of El Paso a Spanish avant-garde group founded in 1957 by the artist in question, alongside fellow painters Antonio Saura, Manuel Millares, Antonio Suárez, Manuel Rivera, Juana Francés, and Luis Feito; sculptors Pablo Serrano and Martín Chirino; and art critics José Ayllón and Manuel Conde. The group’s manifesto notably advocated for an Informalist aesthetic and called for the opening of Francoist Spain to international artistic currents.
In this work, we witness—through a nihilistic lens—an instance of action painting, where gestural strokes, stains, and heavily textured surfaces convey a sense of material density and dynamic movement. The figure, rendered through an authentic and unrepeatable act, appears to evoke, with violence and severity, a human dismemberment. This iconoclastic fervour and the deliberate rejection of visible form are likewise evident in other works by the artist held in the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in Cuenca, renowned for its significant collection of pieces by members of the aforementioned group.
