The realistic paintings of Antonio López, observed from two or three meters away, look like gigantic photographs. The meticulousness with which he works is a spectacle: he retouches his paintings several times until the finish is perfect. The people of Madrid who have seen him in action on the streets, unsheathing his brushes in such emblematic places as the Puerta del Sol, know this.
After years of using the capital as a source of inspiration, the painter from Tomelloso has presented Vista de Madrid (1962) at the National Archaeological Museum. This work, which belongs to the BBVA Collection, is in Room 31 of the permanent exhibition from today, February 11.
The painting is part of a series of panoramas that López painted during the 1960s. It is the second that the artist created based on a view of Madrid. In this case, the façade of the Archaeological Museum, the Serrano garden and a couple kissing at the top of a tree appear (for the latter, the work can be framed within magical realism).
View of Madrid connects the end of the area dedicated to the Modern and Contemporary Ages with the room on the history of the museum. Isabel Izquierdo, director of the MAN, explained during the presentation that, for the Archaeological Museum, “the painting has an added historical and documentary value, as it shows the original entrance door to the building, flanked by the two sphinxes and preceded by the staircase”.