AGUSTÍN REDONDELA (Madrid, 1922-2015)."Plaza de Oriente".Oil on canvas.Signed in the lower right

AGUSTÍN REDONDELA (Madrid, 1922-2015).
"Plaza de Oriente".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner, titled on the back.
Measurements: 61 x 86 cm; 91 x 115 cm (frame).
The urban landscape of the oil painting stands out for its composition and the use of a loose brushstroke, as well as for a somewhat muted tonality which, thanks to a great extent also to the sky, gives an air of cloudy climatology. The title makes the subject clearly distinguishable: a somewhat unusual view of Madrid's Plaza de Oriente, as it does not show the two main buildings, the Palace and the Teatro Real. The latter, however, is not shown in reality as the artist has depicted it, as it is noticeable that the sculpture of Philip IV is located a little further to the right and not right in front of the unmistakable buildings, which are not as seen here either and which stand next to the Royal Theatre, which does not appear on the canvas. However, the nearby Convent of the Incarnation does appear, as do some of the sculptures of the Spanish monarchs that were placed in the square when they came down from the roofs of the Royal Palace. Despite these licences, the brushstrokes, the trees and the small human figures that are scattered around can be seen to be close to naturalism.
The work is a clear example of the painter's style. In the words of his admirer, the poet and art critic José Hierro, "Redondela paints what he no longer sees... He does not paint the landscape he loves, but his love of landscape", and he himself acknowledged that he painted from memory, as he only made sketches from life, that he worked later in the studio, and that it was essential to preserve a personality, seek feeling and maintain a certain quality. It is this primacy of the master's feelings and impressions that "reinterprets" his landscapes.
Almost entirely self-taught, Augstín González Alonso has been considered one of the most original landscape painters in 20th-century Spanish art. He trained with his father, the painter and set designer José González Redondela, in Madrid and San Sebastián, and after the Civil War he attended classes at the Madrid School of Arts and Crafts with the landscape painter José Ordóñez. He sent a work to the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1945 under the pseudonym Redondela, which he has kept ever since, and in the same year he took part in his first individual exhibition in that city. Around this time he came into contact with the Madrid School, a group in which he has been included despite the differences in his work. In 1947 the Academia Breve de Crítica de Arte de Eugenio d'Ors selected him to exhibit at the Salón de los Once, in 1952 the Watercolour Prize of the Ateneo de Madrid, in 1953 he won the National Painting Prize, in 1954 he won the Prize of the II Bienal Hispanoamericana and a grant from the Catherword Foundation (Philadelphia, USA), a first National Medal in 1957, the "José González de la Peña" prize of the Real Academia de San Fernando in 1996? He participated in some 32 solo exhibitions and more than fifty group exhibitions throughout his career.
He combined painting with the creation of naturalistic scenographies for plays such as "Caperucita asusta al lobo" by Jacinto Benavente or "El amor de los cuatro coroneles" by Peter Ustinov. It is worth mentioning his illustrations for "Viaje a la Alcarria" by Camilo José Cela (Rembrandt Ediciones, 1978, Alicante) and his own definition of painting: "it is to leave your soul in what you do; painting that does not move me, that does not tell me things, does not interest me".
His works can be seen in prominent private collections and in others such as the BBVA, as well as in museums such as the Centro de Arte y Naturaleza-Colección Beulas in Huesca, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid, the Centro de Bellas Artes da Coruña, etc.