Sofía Gandarias (1957 – 23 January 2016)
/ref> was a Spanish painter.

Life

Gandarías was a Spanish painter, born in

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

in the Basque Country. She graduated in Fine Arts from the Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Universidad Complutense,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. Music had been a powerful influence on her life. In 1978 she painted Kokoscha-Alma Mahler, three characters whose interrelated destinies are representative of their Zeitgeist. This was the beginning of an intense artistic output in series such as "La protesta del silencio" (1980) or "Presencias" (1986). “Gandarias contemplates her models, living or dead, with a gaze like that of a seer or a somnambulist, in order to give them form ” from within” and to release their voices.“(Roa Bastos) She married Enrique Barón Crespo in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

in 1987. Her son Alejandro was born the following year. She resumed her work with a big retrospective exhibition in Venice, the city which is her inspiration, in 1990. Her commitment to world peace and culture was expressed in her exhibition “Pour la tolerance” at the Grande Arche de la Fraternité, Paris. This was opened by Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Simone Veil and Barbara Hendricks, whose portrait “Love Prayer” was the symbol of the show which celebrated the 50th Anniversary of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. She painted the portrait of the great virtuoso violinist

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

“the wisest man I have ever met” and began to cooperate with his Foundation. She devoted the year 2000 to the study of Primo Levi's “Se questo è un uomo” (“If This Is a Man”) which resulted in the series "Primo Levi, la memoria". After the attack in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

she painted the tableau NY 9/11 a series of 13 paintings, from which “Miserere Julianna” is going on display at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The series “Kafka, the visionary” a series of 64 paintings was exhibited in the Haus am Kleistpark (

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

), Ariowitsch Haus(

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) and Czech Center- Instituto Cervantes (Prag). José Saramago wrote about it “God has not read Kafka”. Amongst the artists who had most marked her life Gandarias identified

Velázquez Velázquez, also Velazquez, Velásquez or Velasquez (, ), is a surname from Spain. It is a patronymic name, meaning "son of Velasco". References to "Velazquez" without a first name are often to the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez. Notable peo ...

, Goya and Bacon, along with her teacher and mentor Manuel Villaseñor. She was a member of the Board of the Fundación Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (Spain) and of the Scientific Committee of the “Istituto Internazionale per l'Opera e la Poesia di Verona “ (UNESCO). She was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2005 and was granted the Légion d'honneur of the French Republic in 2010.

References

External links

''Sofía Gandarias''
- Official Web site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gandarias, Sofia 1957 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Spanish painters 21st-century Spanish painters Basque painters People from Guernica Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Recipients of the Legion of Honour 20th-century Spanish women painters 21st-century Spanish women painters