Artists and Designers

Artists, Painters and Sculptors

Some of the greatest names in art history have come from Andalucia, including painters Velázquez, Murillo and Pablo Picasso. At museums throughout the region you'll find displays of the creative vein that continues to run through southern Spain. On this page, you'll meet up with the people who established local artistic traditions.

Qualified as a structural engineer, Diego learned how to make flamenco guitars together with his father Luis at their workshop in Seville. The two artisans, also supported by Diego’s mother,… More →

Known as “the alchemist of leather”, José Luis Bazán Fernández is a third-generation master craftsman. With a life dedicated to working with leather, this renowned artisan was awarded the Premio… More →

For Malaga-born flamenco dancer-turned-designer José Galvañ, who  has been creating flamenco designs since 2013, this situation presented a challenge. He continues to dance, with performances in… More →

Arguably one of the most famous, and influential, Spanish painters – alongside Goya, Dali and Picasso – Velazquez is best known for his unconventional royal portrait Las Meninas. Velazquez painted… More →

During the early 1980s, well-known American sculptor, Bayard Osborne, famed for his Bronze Nudes statues, lived briefly at the Villa La Loma, in Calle Ramos Puente in Torremolinos. Born in… More →

One of the most notorious artists to reside in Torremolinos was Elmyr de Hory, a Hungarian-born painter and art forger that lived in the town during the late 1960s. Elmyr de Hory is said to have… More →

Surrealist genius Salvador Dali and his eternal muse, Gala, were among other notable guests to stay at Carlota Alessandri's hotel El Parador de Montemarhotel. Dali stayed for several weeks during… More →

John Spencer-Churchill, Nephew of Sir Winston Churchill was an English painter who once lived in the Molino de Rosario, situated next to the church in Plaza San Miguel. Born in London in 1909,… More →

Horacio Lengo Martinez, an eccentric and rather unstable painter who eventually committed suicide, was born in the Plaza de San Miguel in Torremolinos in 1838. He was the father of Clara Lengo -… More →

Murillo is one of Spain's greatest painters.He was born in Seville, and lived in the city for most of his life. He belonged to the same 17th-century Baroque school as Velazquez and Zurbaran, and… More →

George Apperley was born to an aristocratic Welsh military family on the Isle of Wight, UK; his father died when he was six. Although he trained at Sandhurst,George showed a preference for art,… More →

The artist has a roundabout (Glorieta Jorge Campbell) named after him in Malaga, on AvenidaCerrado Calderon, at the junction with Calle Flamenco and CalleAndaluz. Campbell was born in Arklow,… More →

Immortalised in street names from Almería to Vélez-Málaga and throughout the Spanish Kingdom , Francisco de Goya is cemented in the lineage of world art icons.

Many people believe that the character of your native land of Andalucía – Córdoba in the case of Víctor, and Sevilla for José Luis – is always reflected in your work. Do you believe this to be so… More →

Prior to his being known for his writing, he was a highly competent painter. In 1925, however, Alberti received the necessary motivation to concentrate on his writing when he gained the National… More →

Pedro Roldán was the leading Andalusian sculptor of the late 17th century. Some of his work in wood was painted by Valdés Leal and like the latter Roldán's best work in in the Hospital de la… More →

Pablo Picasso Picasso was born in 1881 in a house (now a "Casa Natal museum) in Plaza de la Merced in Málaga, the first child of Don José Ruiz y Blasco (1838-1913) and María Picasso y López. He… More →

Pablo de Rojas moved to Granada in 1579, attracted by the city's rich art and cultural heritage. He studied with Rodrigo Moreno and established his workshop in an area where many artists were… More →

Seville's Juan Martínez Montañes was better known in his day as "El Dios de la Madera" (the God of Wood). He produced many magnificent and lifelike sculptures and reliefs in polychromed wood.… More →

Francisco de Zurbarán was born in Extremadura but settled in Seville in 1629 where he had a very successful career accepting large commissions for the wealthy religious order. He was in Madrid… More →

Málaga born Diego Santos lives in the heart of his native city's centre in one of it's most emblematic buildings - the birth place of Pablo Picasso. That's right. He lives right there overlooking… More →

Ana de Pombo (Ana Caller Donesteve) (1900 - 1985) was originally from Santander. She founded a fashion line in 1928 in Paris called Chez Elviana. Coco Chanel asked Ana to manage her public… More →

In 1961 French artist, writer and film-maker Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) stayed in Marbella for four months, just two years before he died. A permanent exhibition in Marbella commemorates the… More →

Valentin is a world-famous architect and president of the Fundacion Valentin de Madariaga y Oya. Born in Seville in 1960, he lived in his native city until the age of 18, when he moved to Madrid… More →

The people of Malaga are proud of the fact that Picasso was born here and it was a big day when the King and Queen of Spain inaugurated the Museo Picasso (Picasso Museum) on the 27th October 2003… More →

Francisco Carrera Iglesias is a master embroiderer, continuing the five-centuries-old tradition of intricate gold embellishment in his Seville workshop. Velvet gowns worn by Virgin Mary statues in… More →

Living in Andalucia