Claudio Bravo was born in 1936 in a farmers family in Valparaiso, but from the age of eleven he showed an important vocation for art through drawing. Even being self-taught, he spent time studying drawing and painting with Miguel Venegas Cifuentes, focusing on the perfectionist realistic technique. Furthermore, during this time he combined painting with poetry, ballet, and theater.
At the age of 17 he exhibited for the first time, in Salón Trece (Santiago de Chile), and he began to make a name for himself as a portrait painter in Concepción. His interest about portrait drives him to Madrid, increasing his technique through the observation of Museo del Prado masters’, like Velázquez. It was in the Spanish capital where Bravo became famous with his portraits, established since 1961, he painted a lot of aristocracy and nobility people. But in the mid-1960s the portrait gave way to still life, through everyday objects, expanding his technique until it practically brought it to perfection. It should be noted that his work was always generated from the observation of reality, calling himself super-realistic and avoiding the term hyper-realistic, since this second uses photography as a model.
His still lifes gave him international acknowledgement, and he took the leap of Spanish galleries to United States galleries. One of the firsts galleries was Staempfli Gallery in New York, where he usually exhibited in the seventies coinciding with his move to Tangier in 1972. Thanks to an individual exhibition in 1981 in Galeria Marlboroug, the gallery who represented him until the rest of his life, his internationality was consolidated. He lived in Marrakech since 2000, alternating his residence between this city and Tangier.
Along of his career he exhibited in more of fifty galleries, as well as institutions like Museo de Bellas Artes of Santiago or Elvehjem Museu of Art of University of Wisconsin, just as in some editions of Documenta in Kassel.
List of artworks
Paquete negro , 1972
Pan tostado , 1974
Rodrigo , 1977
Rodrigo , 1977
Paquete negro , 1972
Pan tostado , 1974
Rodrigo , 1977
Press articles
27 works, 18 artists
Josep Suñol Collection
27 pieces from the Josep Suñol Collection to help expand visitors’ knowledge of 20th-century art.
Sculpture/Object
Josep Suñol Collection
36 pieces from the Josep Suñol Collection, ranging from the early avant-garde up to the most daring experiments of the 1990s.
5th Anniversary
Josep Suñol's Collection
A fresh insight into his collection that can help us understand the function of art in society.
Dialogues of the Gaze
A selection of works from the Col·lecció Josep Suñol with the aim of reflecting on the importance of the gaze.
Portrait: 1971-1987
Fernando Vijande
We brought together 51 artists to talk about Fernando Vijande, the gallerist who supported the work of all those who exhibited at the Galería Vandrés and the Galería Vijande.
Itineraries
Dialogues of the Gaze
EL QUE SAPS / EL QUE SENTS / EL QUE PERCEPS: tres itineraris de l'exposició Diàlegs de la mirada.
La Nit dels Museus 2016
Free entry on May 21st of 2016, from 7pm to 1am.
Literarture
Fall 2017
This fall we take up Literarture, an activity focused in the relationship between art and literature.
Open days
December 2017 and January 2018
Visit for free the current exhibition at the Fundació Suñol Fernando Vijande. Portrait: 1971-1987 to say goodbye to 2017 and salute the new year 2018.
Fernando Vijande. Portrait: 1971-1987
José Luis Alexanco and Daniel Giralt-Miracle
José Luis Alexanco —artist and coorganizer of the exhibition— and Daniel Giralt-Miracle —art critic and historian— will lead a tour visit of Fernando Vijande. Portrait: 1971-1987 on Monday, February 5.
Guided tours to Fernando Vijande. Portrait: 1971-1987
The Fundació Suñol organizes some commented tours for individual audience through the exhibition Fernando Vijande. Portrait: 1971-1987.
27 works, 18 artists
This exhibition puts together 27 pieces from the Suñol Soler Collection with the aim of expanding knowledge of 20th century art.
Sculpture/Object
The exhibition Sculpture/Object was the first of various commemorative events for Fundació Suñol’s 5th anniversary, held in 2012. It showed 36 pieces from the Collection.
