Antonio López returned to Paint from the Puerta del Sol this summer

This summer, as every summer, the Puerta del Sol was visited by countless local and international tourists who, braving the heat, wanted to snap a photo in the new Km. 0, with the Bear and the Madrone, or in front of the famous clock that chimes at midnight every year on New Year’s Eve.

Hidden among these attractions, however, was another illustrious one: the Madrid-resident painter Antonio López. Sitting with his easel and canvas the famous artist sought to portray the streets of Madrid as they should be portrayed, from street level.

Antonio López, a native of Tomelloso, in the province of Ciudad Real, is one of the most renowned active artists in Spain, and maybe the world, as his works have crossed many borders to feature in exhibitions in countries the likes of Italy, the United States and Japan.

A lover of Madrid, his first exhibition at the Ateneo, in the capital, dates from the late 1950s. Even today, at 83, his tireless curiosity does not allow him to step away from either his paintbrushes or, much less, his adoptive city.

López is considered a hyperrealist painter and approaches everything he wishes to portray from a position of absolute humility. He is the author of very famous pieces such as “View of Madrid from the Vallecas Fire Tower”, which is more than 4 metres wide, and the “Day and Night” sculptures in Atocha, the giant baby heads that so many travellers have been photographed alongside, unaware that they were works by this great artist.

The task he was undertaking these days in the heart of the city was the culmination of a diptych he began no less than ten years earlier. If there’s one thing that characterises this artist it’s that he’s not in any rush, and prefers to let his art settle until he feels ready. It has always given him exquisite results.

(Photo taken from the article RTVE: https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20110621/antonio-lopez-segun-antonio-lopez-autobiografia-thyssen/439637.shtml)

Categories: Madrid Cultura