This piece commemorates the 50th anniversary of Manolo Millares’ passing (Las Palmas 1926 – Madrid 1972), placing him among the most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century in Spain. Widely considered groundbreaking, his influence resonates with many contemporary creators who follow his lead and continue to reinterpret his pioneering approaches.
The tribute event organized by MACA serves as a recognition of Millares’ role in renewing plastic language during the 1950s and 60s. Initially linked with the Ladac Canary group and later a foundational member of the El Paso movement, his work helped redefine abstract experimentation in Spain. The exhibition now surveys his trajectory and acknowledges the evolution of his ideas, illustrating how his practice catalyzed a shift toward new forms of visual language.
The display traces the arc of Millares’ practice, highlighting works by the artist alongside pieces created by colleagues who influenced and were influenced by him. The selection emphasizes fragments framed by abstraction and features early experiments by Spanish informality artists who trained in Paris, illustrating a broader dialogue within European abstraction. Rosa Castells, the MACA curator, explains on the first floor how these conversations unfolded through the years, with the show continuing through September 2023.
Millares’ last serigraphs
MACA aims to honor Millares while highlighting his relationship with Abel Martín, a link to the 20th Century Art Collection. Among the highlights is Diary of an imaginary and baroque goose, a remarkable silkscreen portfolio of 12 originals, created in 1971 just before the artist’s death. Additional pieces from the Ars Citerior Collection and a strong burlap from the Fundación Mediterráneo Collection are presented here for the first time in this museum context.
MACA also presents the Abel Martín folder as a key example of silkscreen mastery. The work embodies a baroque calligraphy, an excavation diary rendered in small drawings whose meaning may elude at first glance, yet its beauty renders it one of the strongest pieces on view.
Similarly, the Fundación Mediterráneo burlap is showcased as a piece that resists other collection rhetoric while still offering a striking and perfect example of Millares’ late language.
From Miró to Braque
Millares is shown within a dialogue with art by Joan Miró, George Braque, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Antonio Saura, Antoni Tàpies, and others such as Sarah Grilo and Georges Mathieu. The curatorial team notes that this core body of work helped construct a narrative around abstract experience, intertwining the artist’s figure with wider modernist currents.
67 more studies for MACA
According to a presentation by Antonio Gomez Square from the Fundación Mediterráneo, the burlap work may be among Millares’ finest, having been exhibited in New York before joining the Obra Social de la CAM collection. Its MACA debut underscores the long-awaited opportunity to showcase this piece and confirms its exceptional impact.
As explained by the Cultural Council member, Eusebio Sempere, Juana Frances and the El Paso group anchor the exhibition’s core, while the collaboration with the Fundación Mediterráneo and the Ars Citerior Collection broadens the context. Javier Badenes, nephew of Abel Martín, comments on the significance of linking these threads within the MACA program.
Social and political awareness
Millares’ early interest in Aboriginal Canarian culture, archaeology, and anthropology surfaces across his work, moving from surrealist beginnings to informal pieces that resist flatness and push texture and form. The exhibition highlights how these strands converge into a powerful social and political consciousness.
The crafted use of pallets and burlap, restricted to a triad of white, black, and red, communicates a punchy material language. The works often carry a sense of struggle, rupture, and resilience, mirroring the turbulent era in which he operated.
The canvas often acts as a battlefield, with themes of decay and mortality subtly woven through the imagery. Millares also explores sign and inscription, increasingly incorporating invented writing around 1970. His calligraphy leans toward a baroque rhythm that moves from graffiti toward more ornate patterns, creating a visually dense, enigmatic language.
Using Chinese ink and smoky gray washes, he crafts words and paragraphs that evoke 17th century calligraphy, yet defy literal meaning, inviting viewers to experience the texture and rhythm rather than a straightforward message.