Menchu Gal Biography
Menchu Gal (Irún, January 7, 1918 - Irún, March 12, 2008) was one of the great Spanish painters of the twentieth century. Landscape and portrait are the genera with the most successful and famous in the feature attraction developed by the extreme colors. In 1959 she won the Premio Nacional de Pintura, becoming the first woman to receive the coveted award.
The early plastic Menchu Gal occur in Irun (Guipúzcoa), his hometown, where she was a disciple of the painter Iturrioz Montes. Then traveled to Paris to broaden studies, subsequently settling in Madrid to attend classes at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. There she learns from masters like Arteta and Vázquez Díaz, but the Civil War of 1936 forces her to refuge again in France.
In the early forties she returned to the Spanish capital where she was a member of the so-called School of Madrid. The landscape of La Mancha and its region home were since then her mark and has become one of the great artists of the postwar period. Also were not missed in her production portraits and still lifes that starred in numerous exhibitions in museums and art centers around the world: Gulbenkian Foundation in 1971, Centro Cultural Conde Duque in 1990 and Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid. She also participated in the Venice Biennale on three occasions.
Among the awards won, highlights the Lekuona Manuel awarded annually Eusko Ikaskuntza. Her works have been exhibited in collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. (www.wikipedia.org).
