Miquel Barceló

artist

Miquel Barceló is one of Spain’s most acclaimed contemporary artists, known for his relief-like mixed-media paintings, expressive bronze sculptures, ceramic works, and monumental installations. He experiments with non-traditional materials such as volcanic ash, food, seaweed, sediments, and homemade pigments but at the same time remains rooted in the grand tradition of painting, following in the footsteps of Picasso and Goya. He gained international recognition after his participation in the São Paulo Biennial (1981) and documenta 7 in Kassel (1982), and he represented Spain at the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). His work has been exhibited at institutions around the world, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1996), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (1999), and Musée du Louvre in Paris (2004), where he showed over three hundred drawings illustrating Dante’s The Divine Comedy.