From his audacious Pop art paintings that challenged Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s regime during the 1960s to his modern reinterpretation of works by masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Valencia native Manolo Valdés has created an extraordinary range of work. He is internationally renowned as one of the most influential Spanish artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Born in 1942, Valdés studied art at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia. As his career began to take shape, in 1964, Valdés cofounded Equipo Crónica with fellow Spanish artists Rafael Solbes and Juan Antonio Toledo. Together, the collective produced politically charged graphic Pop works, which frequently merged imagery that referenced Spain’s history and culture, in order to expressly denounce Franco’s oppressive government. Toledo left Equipo Crónica after one year, and the group disbanded after Solbes’s death in 1981.
From 1981 onward, Valdés focused on his solo career. In his portraits, still-life prints and figurative sculptures, Valdés adopts familiar images from masterpieces by some of the world’s most recognizable artists, including Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens and Roy Lichtenstein, and recontextualizes them, minimalizing forms and the use of color, introducing collagist elements and more. Examples of Valdés’s methods can be seen in the textured lithograph print Claribel (1995) and his contemporary sculpture Butterflies (2010), which is inspired by Matisse’s Woman with a Hat (1905).
Valdés has exhibited his works around the world, including in New York City, Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin, Geneva and Mexico City. In 1999, he represented Spain at the Venice Biennale. His paintings and sculptures are also held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Moderna Museet in Malmö, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of original Manolo Valdés prints, sculptures and mixed media.
$273,909
Manolo Valdés. Count-Duke of Olivares. 1982. Oil on burlap. 200 x 150 cm.
By Manolo Valdés
Located in Barcelona, CT
Manolo Valdés Blasco (Valencia, Spain, March 8, 1942). "Count-Duke of Olivares". 1982. Painting on burlap. 200 x 150 cm. Signed on the reverse “M. Valdes”. Provenance - Private...
Burlap, Oil
$2,098
H 12.6 in W 8.47 in
Seated Woman from Behind, Oil on Cardboard, Post-Impressionist, 1920
By Ernest Laurent
Located in PARIS, FR
Ernest LAURENT Gentilly 1859 - Bièvres 1929 Seated woman seen from behind, preparatory sketch Oil on cardboard Circa 1920 32 x 21.5 cm unframed Our oil o...
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Portrait of Miles Davis
Located in San Francisco, CA
Portrait of Miles Davis, 1998 C.E. Miller
Canvas, Oil
Portrait Of A Military General
Located in Lake Worth Beach, FL
Portrait of a Military General Fine 19th C European, Neo -Classical half-length portrait of a Military General, a handsome man wearing military regali...
Canvas, Oil
$1,738Sale Price|20% Off
H 36.62 in W 44.18 in
Jeaune Femme au Port de Sanary, Oil on Canvas, French, 1956, Framed
Located in London, GB
'Jeaune Femme au Port de Sanary' (Young Woman in the Port of Sanary), oil on canvas, French School (1956). This large, luminous painting captures the languid warmth of the French Riv...
Canvas, Oil
$641Sale Price|38% Off
H 21.66 in W 18.12 in
Impressionist Oil Painting of Girl Eating on Burlap, Circa 1960
By Antoni Vila Arrufat
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Antoni Vila Arrufat (1894-1989) - girl eating - Oil on burlap Oil size 55x46 cm. Frameless.
Burlap, Oil
$2,214
H 36.23 in W 25.6 in D 1.19 in
Cubist-Inspired Female Portrait, Oil on Canvas, Early 20th Century Inspiration
By Menachem Gueffen
Located in NANTES, FR
This Cubist-inspired portrait of a woman was created by the painter Menachem Gueffen. Faithful to the artist’s figurative-expressionist style, this oil on canvas is distinguished by ...
Burlap, Oil
$2,913
H 51.19 in W 51.19 in D 0.79 in
When I'm 100 Years Old - Contemporary Figurative Modern Oil Painting
By Kasia Mazur
Located in Hallein, AT
This painting is part of the artist's award-winning diploma thesis. Artist Statement: I paint imagined memories shaped by contradiction. In my practice, tenderness meets fear, humou...
Cotton Canvas, Oil
$2,331
H 27.96 in W 20.48 in D 0.79 in
Oil on canvas, "Madonna and Child" 1850, Eastern Europe
Located in Vicenza, VI
A painting that refers to Our Lady Eleusa, also known as the "Mother of God of Tenderness," which shows an undeniable feeling of affection and tenderness between mother and child. Th...
Canvas, Oil
$3,450
H 37 in W 32 in D 2 in
Mid 19th Century Woman in Black Dress and Lace Cap Original Oil Painting c.1840
Located in San Francisco, CA
Mid 19th Century Woman in Black Dress and Lace Cap Original Oil Painting c.1840 A fine portrait of an elegant matron with the lappets of her cap held together by a fancy brooch Ori...
Canvas, Oil
$9,450
H 48.5 in W 40.5 in D 3 in
After Rembrandt "The Prodigal Son in the Tavern" Old Master Style Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
After Rembrandt "The Prodigal Son in the Tavern" Old Master Style Painting Late 19th century - Early 20th century Oil on Canvas 36.75 x 44.5 unframed 40.5" x 48.5" framed
Canvas, Oil
Cardinal Mazarin portrait
Located in BELEYMAS, FR
French School circa 1645 Portrait of Cardinal Mazarin - Sketch Oil on canvas H. 41.5 cm; W. 27 cm Provenance: Collection of the Reverend Georges Downing Bowles (1789-1863) Would ...
Canvas, Oil
"Salvador Dalí"
By Kyrylo Bondarenko
Located in Edinburgh, GB
I was inspired to paint this picture by girls. on a nudist beach, they froze on the floor, like trees. As a result, I met them, they became my muses, I repeatedly painted them naked ...
Canvas, Oil