Miquel Barceló

Vanity with Three Skulls - Original etching with aquatint

2005

Miquel Barceló makes abstract, mixed-media paintings that capture the diversity of the natural world and reflect his extensive travels. Like Pablo Picasso and Francisco de Goya before him, the artist pushes the boundaries of representation. His hazy white canvases, for example, capture the light rebounding off the Sahara. On a canvas installed at the United Nations headquarters, a multicolored dome of stalactite forms evokes the sea and a cave. Thickly impastoed works translate the dynamism and energy of bullfighting rings into warm hues. Barceló gives these works their signature tactility as he incorporates unconventional materials such as homemade pigments, volcanic ash, seaweed, and river sediment. He has exhibited widely in cities around the world, and in 2009, he represented Spain at the Venice Biennale. His work has sold for seven figures at auction and belongs to many prestigious collections around the world, including the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Reina Sofía, the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Barceló has also made sculptures and installations.