Antonio Saura (1930-1998)

‘Saura’s paintings rapidly evolve in the direction of the gestural and non-representational, a move which put him in the company of a number of personalities and break-away tendencies of the immediate post-war period.' (R. Chiappini, quoted in Antonio Saura, exh. cat., Museo d’Arte Modern, Lugano, 1994, p. 13).

'Having no illusions about Beauty, he returns to earth, which is the flesh, the undifferentiated and, in short, the chaotic. What passionately interests him is what lies beneath any display of radiant exemplariness… Saura has unfolded before us, in full luxurious detail, a variegated map of his wanderings amongst the great masters of the past.’ (F. C. Serraller, quoted in Antonio Saura, exh. cat., Museo d’Arte Modern, Lugano, 1994, p. 23).