Background
Esteban Francès was born on July 30, 1913 in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. He spent his early years in Figueras until 1925, when he moved with his family to Barcelona.
- Photos
- Works
Main Photo
Esteban Francès
- Photos
- Works
painting
Composición
Untitled
Don Quijote
The Dream
Don Quijote
Composición surrealista
El cortejo
Manantial
Alborada de guerra
Alborada. Paisaje explosivo
Alambradas
Don Quijote
Dawn
Don Quijote
El cuadro de los abanicos
Brote
Fusilamiento
Untitled
El abajorro
Evocacion de la Primavera
Don Quijote
Esteban Francès
Edit ProfileEducation
Esteban studied Law in Barcelona, but droped out shortly before finishing and instead enrolled at the Escola de la Llotja.
Career
During his education, Esteban came into contact with Paul Eluard and Oscar Dominguez. It was the start of his artistic career. With the outbreak of the Civil war he fled to Paris where he became a member of the surrealist group. His earliest works appear to be somewhat under the influence of Salvador Dali.
From around 1936 he seemed to have developed his own style using flowing interwoven organic biomorphic forms as with "Barbed wire", painted in 1937. In these he used grattage or scraping paint from the canvas when it is placed on a textured material.
In 1940, shortly after the start of World War II, he fled to Mexico and later moved to New York. It was then that he began working as a set and costume designer, becoming a regular contributor of Russian choreographer George Balanchine, one of the most emblematic figures of contemporary dance. Throughout the 1940s his work incorporated more linear geometrical elements, as in "Dawn", created in 1940. The artist died on September 21, 1976.
Achievements
Works
painting
Views
Esteban Francés adhered to the artistic traditions of Surrealism.
Interests
Connections
Esteban met Remedios Varo, with whom he shared a studio, and in the mid 1930s they were romantically involved.
- Partner:
- Remedios Varo
- colleague:
- Paul Eluard
- colleague:
- Oscar Dominguez
