Fernando Zóbel

Manila, Philippines, 1924 – Rome, Italy, 1984

Fernando Zóbel is an exceptional figure in contemporary Spanish art, both for the quality of his painting and for his decisive work as an intellectual and patron. Born in Manila, he studied Philosophy and Letters at Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude. His cosmopolitan education and his deep interest in art history, literature, calligraphy and Eastern cultures shaped a conception of painting of extraordinary intellectual richness.

From the fifties onwards he moved towards abstraction, developing a language based on gesture, line and space. The influence of Eastern calligraphy is especially significant in his compositions, where apparent spontaneity is the result of rigorous planning and deep reflection on time, movement and silence.

His bond with Spain took on historic significance when, together with Gustavo Torner and Gerardo Rueda, he founded the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca in 1966. The museum became one of the great landmarks of Spanish artistic modernity. Painter, writer, collector and patron, Zóbel was an essential figure in the spread and consolidation of Spanish abstraction. In 1983 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts.