Zaragoza 1916, San Lorenzo de El Escorial 1987. Manuel Viola was largely self-taught, although he began university studies in Barcelona, which were cut short by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. His first drawings and his beginnings in literature and art date from this period. By 1933, Manuel Viola was already a regular contributor to Art, a magazine that, in both form and content, can be considered one of the best avant-garde publications in Catalonia, featuring contributions from García Lorca, JV Foix, Alberti, and Cocteau.
After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Manuel Viola went into exile in Paris. There he met Benjamin Perret, Picasso, and Henri Gotees. He contributed to the clandestine publications of the surrealist group, La Main à Plume . In 1944, he created his first oil paintings. A year later, he exhibited at the Salon des Surindépendants in Paris. To help him survive, Picasso gave him one of his works.
Manuel Viola returned to Spain in 1949. In 1953, he held a solo exhibition in Madrid. He was a member of El Paso , the famous avant-garde informalist group founded by Antonio Saura, Pablo Serrano, Martín Chirino, Luís Feito, and Manolo.
Millares, among other artists, became a passionate activist. In 1962, Manuel Viola designed the set for the Theatre of Nations in Paris. In 1974, he created a large mural at the CAMPSA headquarters in Madrid and another mural at the Bank of Spain headquarters. Among his retrospective exhibitions, the one held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid and later at the Lonja in Zaragoza in 1972 stand out. He received the city's Gold Medal in 1980.
One morning, a woman entered an exhibition at Gaudifond, carrying her shopping bag from the market. She had probably never set foot in a gallery before. She began looking at Viola's paintings. Viola approached her and asked what she thought of them. The woman replied that she liked them, that they were very good. She stood in front of the smallest work and asked, "How much does it cost?" Viola replied, "500." The woman, delighted, exclaimed, "Oh, well, that's not expensive, I'll take it!" That painting was worth 500,000 pesetas, a veritable fortune. Viola was so amused that she took the painting down, took the 500 pesetas, and handed it over.
WORKS IN MUSEUMS
Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art. Madrid
Reina Sofía Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Abstract Art. Cuenca
Villafames Museum. Castellón
Camon Aznar Museum. Zaragoza
Sempere Museum. Alicante
Jaime Morera Art Museum. Lleida
Museum of Contemporary Art. Elche
Museum of Fine Arts. Bilbao
Museum of Fine Arts. Badajoz
Museum of Fine Arts. Álava
Guggenheim Museum of New York
Museum of Modern Art of Liège. Belgium
National Museum of Buenos Aires. Argentina
National Museum of Santiago, Chile
Vatican Museum
National Museum. Prague
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1945. Salon des Surindependants. Paris, France
1946. “Espagnols de l'Escole de Paris”
“Salon of Artists
Ibérique” Paris, France
“Month of UNESCO” Museum
d'Art Moderne. Paris, France
“Salon de Mai” Gallery
Bourgeois. Paris, France
1947. “Spanish Painters from Paris”Anglo-French Art Center London, England
1950. “San Jorge County Prize” Layetanas Galleries. Barcelona, Spain
1957. “Salon de Mai” Paris, France
1958. “Avant-garde Spanish Painting” Urbis Club. Madrid, Spain
1959. “Twenty Years of Spanish Painting” Lisbon, Portugal
“Treize Peintres
Spanish Actuels” Museé des Arts Décoratifs. Paris, France
“Songe Spaanse Kgnst” La
The Hague, Utrecht and Amsterdam
“The Young Painting
"Espagnole" Fribourg, Switzerland
“Jonje Spanishe Maler”
Basel, Switzerland
“Espaçao e Cor na
Espaghola Painting by Hoje” Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
“Black and White” Gallery
Darro. Madrid, Spain
“El Paso” Gallery
Biosca. Madrid, Spain
1960. “Unge Spaanska Malere” Oslo
“Jung Spanische Kunst”
Munich and Gothenburg
“Zeitgenossische Kunst”
Gallery 59. Aschaffenburg, Vienna
“Spanish Painters
Selected by the Museum of
New Modern Art
York” Biosca Gallery. Madrid, Spain
“New Spanish Painting
and Sculpture” Museum of Modern Art New York
“Informal Tribute to
Velázquez” Gaspar Gallery. Barcelona
“El Paso” Gallery
The Attic. Rome, Italy
“24 contemporary painters”
Cordoba, Spain
“Before Picasso, After
Miró” Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA.
“Espaçao e Cor na
Spanish Painting by Hoje” Museum of Modern Art of Sao Paulo, Montevideo and
Buenos Aires
1961. “New Spanish and Sculptures” Corcoran Gallery of Washington. St.Louis,
Missouri and Columbus Gallery. Ohio
Mac Nay Art Institute.
San Antonio, Texas
Art Institute of Chicago
and Isaac Delgado Museum of Art. New
Orleans
Currier Gallery of Art.
Manchester, New Hampshire
Art Gallery of Toronto. Canada
Contemporary Arts
Cincinnati Center
“Contrasts of the
"Contemporary Spanish Painting" Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
“Nove Pinttori Spagnoli”
Cadario Gallery. Milan, Italy
“Affirmations” Museum
d'Art Moderne. Liège
“Art Spagnol
Contemporain” Palais des Beaux-Ar. Brussels
1962. “Twenty Years of Spanish Painting” Seville and Barcelona, Spain
1963. “Fontana – Viola” Museum of Modern Art. Cologne
1964. Venice Biennale
“Art Contemporain” Grand
Palais de Paris. France
1966. New York World's Fair
1968. Quito Biennial. Ecuador
20th Century Gallery. Quito,
Ecuador
“Painting of the years
"Fifty" Edurne Gallery. Madrid, Spain
1969. “First Spanish Experiences of Abstract Tendency” Palace of
Fuensalida, Toledo, Spain
1973. “Art 73” Juan March Foundation. Museum of Contemporary Art of Seville.
National Museum of
Warsaw
Zodiac Gallery. Madrid,
Spain
“Dalí, Viola and José
Caballero” Altamira Gallery, Pontevedra, Spain
“Integralism 73” Museum
of America. Madrid, Spain
1974. Lonja Palace. Zaragoza
Tindell Hall.
Barcelona, Spain
Museum of Fine Arts.
Bilbao, Spain
Marlborough Fine Art of
London Academy of Fine Arts. Rome, Italy
Zunfthaus Zur Meisen.
Zurich
Circle of Fine Arts
Casal Balaguer. Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Juan March Foundation.
Madrid, Spain
1976. International Art Fair. Basel, Switzerland
“Spanish Painting from
"The Renaissance to the Present Day" Museum of Modern Art, Japan
1977. “Six Aragonese Masters of Current Art” Sala Luzan. Zaragoza, Spain
1978. “El Paso” Bank Hall. Granada, Spain
“Contemporary Painting
Spanish Museum of Modern Art. Mexico
1981. “Le Peintres De Saragosae de Goya a nos Jours” Bordeaux and Palacio de la
Lonja, Zaragoza
1984. Bernesga Gallery. León, Spain
1986. “Spanish Art in New York 1950-1970” Juan March Foundation. Madrid
1987. “Spanish Art in New York 1950-1970” Exhibition and Exhibition Center
Conferences. Zaragoza, Spain
Luzan Hall. Zaragoza,
Spain
1988. “Surrealism in Catalonia” Barcelona, Spain
“The step after The
"Paso" Juan March Foundation. Madrid
“El Paso Presence
thirty years later” Junta de Castilla y León
1990. “Spanish Painting of the Fifties” Madrid
1998. “Homage to El Paso” Maetzu Museum. Estrella, Navarra
1999. “El Paso” Darío Ramos Gallery. Porto
2000. FAC. Lisbon. Atlantica Art Center
2001. Art Seville. Atlántica Art Center.
“Large format” Atlantic
Art Center, A Coruña
2002. “El Paso” Villa de Madrid Cultural Center
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1953. Galería Estilo. Madrid
1957. Claude Bernard Gallery. Paris, France
1959. “Black and White” Darro Gallery. Madrid
1961. Santa Catalina Hall of the Ateneo of Madrid
1963. Galeria Internationale d'Art Contemporain. Paris, France
Museum of Fine Arts.
Bilbao
1965. Hall of the General Directorate of Fine Arts. Madrid
1966. Galería Libros. Madrid
World Art Fair.
New York, USA
1967. Grey Gallery. Bilbao
Art Institute
Contemporary from Lima, Peru
1968. House of Culture of Quito and Guayaquil. Ecuador
20th Century Gallery. Quito,
Ecuador
1969. Skira Gallery. Madrid
Carmen Waugh Gallery.
Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina
1970. “Lithographs” Skira Gallery. Madrid
“Gouaches” Club Pueblo.
Madrid
1971. Museum of Contemporary Art. Madrid
“Viola” Club Pueblo.
Madrid
1972. Gaudí Room - Gaudifond Art. Barcelona
Palace of the Exchange.
Saragossa
Punto Gallery. Valencia
1973. Columela Gallery. Madrid
Arteta Gallery. Bilbao
1979. Bernesga Gallery. León
Rua Gallery. Santander
1980. Antequera Savings Bank Hall.
Projection Gallery.
Mexico City
1981. Roman Bridge Gallery. Marbella
1982. “Recent Work” Rayuela Gallery. Madrid
1983. Armas Gallery. Miami, USA.
1984. Fine Arts Gallery. Gijón
1985. Mateo Inurria Room. Cordova
1986. “Art from Spain” Museum of Houston, USA.
1987. “Homage to Manuel Viola” Trade Fair. Zaragoza
“Tribute to Manuel
Viola” Hall of the Provincial Council. Huesca
Caixa de Barcelona.
Lleida and Balaguer.
“Tribute to Manuel
Viola” Juan Gris Gallery. Madrid
1988. Alfama Gallery. Zaragoza
Spanish Museum of Art
Contemporary. Madrid
1991. Assembly of Madrid
1994. Caixavigo Cultural Center. Vigo
Alfonso's Kiosk. The
A Coruña
Palace
Revillagigedo. Gijón
1996. Atlántica Art Center. A Coruña
1997. Jaime Morera Museum. Lleida
1999. Torreón de Lozoya. Caja Segovia. Segovia
García Castellón Room.
Pamplona
2000. Pilares Gallery. Cuenca
2001. Díaz-Caneja Foundation. Palencia
2002. Atlántica. Art Center. A Coruña
Juan de Juanes Gallery.
Alicante
2003. Antonio Saura Foundation. Cuenca
Paupa Gallery. San
Sebastian
2004. Akros Gallery. Bilbao
2005. Valdepeñas Municipal Museum. Zaragoza
2016. "In remembrance
of the future" Sástago Palace, Zaragoza
