Cristóbal Toral
“For me, art is that which is capable of awakening an emotion in those who observe it.”
Cristóbal Toral (B. 1940) is a Spanish contemporary artist who creates realist paintings that possess an intense atmosphere and raise profound inner questions in the viewer. The subject and quality of his work has earned him wide international recognition and distinctions such as Favorite Son and Gold Medal of the City of Antequera, Medal of Andalusia or Honor Scholar of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Santa Isabel de Hungary. (Read More)
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Toral worked alongside his father in the agricultural fields of Antequera until his late teenage years. From a young age, he was inclined to draw and paint amassing a collection of works that would lead to his discovery. As by chance, a group of hunters arrived at his hut asking for water, upon being allowed inside, they stared in surprise at the drawings and advised his father to send him to the Antequera School of Arts and Crafts.
His talent eventually took him to study in Sevilla and at the famous San Fernando School in Madrid, where he graduated top of his class and was awarded the National End of Career Award in 1964. In 1969, he received a scholarship from the March Foundation to expand his studies in the United States, and before leaving for New York, he exhibited in the Goya room of the Círculo de Bellas Artes.
In 1970, he achieved the First Black and White Prize and exhibited at the Fauna´s gallery. In 1971, he was awarded the Rodríguez-Acosta Foundation Prize, from Granada, and participated in some group shows in the United States. In 1977 Cristóbal Toral’s work reached an international projection after the award of the Gold Medal of the XXIII Biennial of Fiorino (Florence), taking place exhibitions in Chicago, Mexico, Paris, Brussels, Hamburg, Formosa, Tehran, New York, as well as in the main Spanish cities.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Important Exhibitions
2014 Cartografía de Un Viaje, CEART of Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain
2013 The Footprint of a Journey, Retrospective Exhibition, Palace of Sástago, Zaragoza, Spain
2010 Realities of Reality, Palacio de Revillagigedo, Gijón, Spain
2009 Viaje Ininterrumpido, Palacio Almudí, Murcia, Spain
2008 Forgetting Velázquez, Picasso Museum, Barcelona, Spain
Realities of Reality, Museum of Fine Arts, Badajoz, Spain
2006 Mural and sculpture comissioned by the Ministry of Public Works, AVE Station, Antequera, Spain
2005 Centro Cultural Borges, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2003 A Century of Change, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid, Spain
2001-2002 Traveling exhibition, Museo Provincial de Jaén; Caja Granada Fundación, Spain
1997-2000 Traveling exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Sofia Imber, Caracas, Venezuela; Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia; Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, México; National Art Museum of La Paz, Bolivia; Lima Art Museum, Peru; National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile; Emilio Caraffa Provincial Fine Arts Museum, Córdoba, Argentina
1995 Almudí Palace Arts Center, Murcia; Museo de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
1994 Retrospect, Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid, Spain
1991 The Cat in the Paint, Chantillon Museum, Paris, France
1988-1989 General Savings Bank of Granada, Granada, Spain
1985 San Telmo Museum, San Sebastián, Spain
Colombus Museum of Art, Colombus, Ohio, USA
1981 Grand Palais, Paris, France
1978 Municipal Museum, Antequera, Spain
Permanent Collections
American Express, New York, USA
Atrium-Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Araba, Spain Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Bankinter, Madrid, Spain
Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain
Colección AENA, Madrid, Spain
British Petroleum Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Colección Iberia, Madrid, Spain
Colección IBM, Madrid, Spain
Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., USA
Palacio de Moncloa, Madrid, Spain
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Marbella, Spain
Salomón R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA
Museum of Modern Art, Brussels, Belgium
Van Gogh Foundation, Arles, France
Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacioal y Centro de Arte Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Museo de la Ciudad de Antequera, Málaga, Spain
Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, Spain
The Hispanic Society of America Museum, New York, USA