A Career Distinguished
Àlvar Suñol’s Career Evolution
Àlvar Suñol Munoz-Ramos, commonly known as Àlvar, was born on January 29, 1935 in Montgat, Spain.
Àlvar’s career has spanned over six-decades, beginning at the age of 18 when he was awarded the Young Painter’s Prize from the city of Barcelona, whereby the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona acquired his painting for their permanent collection. In 1960, Àlvar became part of the artist stable at the influential Galerie Drouant in Paris.
He was acclaimed by the eminent critic, Jacques Lassaigne, who invited him to take part in the Salon School of Paris in 1960, a group of the top young artists in Spain, organized by the Charpentier Gallery.
In 1962, his work was introduced to American collectors and art aficionados with his first United States exhibition at the Monede Gallery in New York.
Major retrospectives of Àlvar’s work have been mounted in recent years: In 2014, Àlvar Suñol: Una antològica des del 1954-2014 at the Casa de Cultura de la Diputació de Girona in Girona, Spain; in 2015, Passat i Present 1954-2015, at the Castell de Benedormiens, Castell d’Aro, Spain; in 2015, Interiors at the Museu de la Mediterrània, Girona, Spain; and in 2016, Una Vida Pintant 1954-2016 at the Castell de Calonge in Girona, Spain.
His works have been presented by over 40 museums (exhibitions and permanent collections) and over 95 galleries throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
He continues to reside in and create from his studio north of Barcelona.
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CAREER QUOTES AND REFERENCES:
Àlvar Suñol confirms the link between Catalonia and his art: “It is an aesthetic inheritance, a cultural inheritance, from all that constitutes the Mediterranean culture, and most specifically the Catalan culture.”
“I believe that a moment arrives when one creates for oneself an ideal for how life should be, and how humanity should be. And then that ideal becomes a kind of necessity, which one evokes. It’s simply a spiritual necessity, a desire”. – Àlvar Suñol – taken from: Àlvar Suñol: Artist of Catalonia 2017, Betty Jean Craige
“The paintings of Alvar Suñol are transcendent and divine creations. Even though oil paintings are made from linen canvas, oil paints and pigments, wooden stretchers and varnish, his paintings are literally windows or doorways into the spiritual world”. – Taken From: Divine Inspirations: The Spiritual Paintings of Alvar Suñol – May 24, 2017 Scott Peck
Publications
- The Religious Art of Àlvar Suñol (2017)
- Àlvar Suñol: Una Vida Pintant 1954 – 2016 (2016)
- Àlvar: Yesterday Today Tomorrow (2016)
- Àlvar Suñol: Passat i Present 1954 – 2015 (2015)
- Diari de Girona (2014)
- Art Gallery Premieres First European Exhibit/The Liberty Champion (2014)
- Spain’s Alvar Seeks Venues for Inspiration/Art & Antiques (2013)
- Essence of Art/American Art Collector (2008)
- Àlvar in Color in Poetry. With poems by Marjorie Agosin (2005)
- Àlvar: Thirty Years of Lithography(2001)
- Àlvar (1993)
