Manolo
Millares

The Spanish Civil War’s demons haunt the paintings of Manolo Millares, who comes from a family of republicans persecuted under Franco's regime. A self-taught artist, he rubbed shoulders with the Surrealists before resolutely committing himself to abstraction, which allowed him to freely express his torment.

Millares' painting favours the gesture - often tortured - and rejects any theoretical or conceptual dimension. Mixed and empirical, it combines different techniques and materials, starting with torn, knotted, perforated or glued burlap. Burlap gives the painting physical density, reducing its palette to black, white and red.

Millares’ paintings will be shown for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the “Au-delà de la couleur” (“Beyond Colour”) exhibition at the Couvent des Jacobins in Rennes in June 2021.