LUIS GARCÍA OCHOA

Luis García Ochoa Ibáñez was born in San Sebastián on March 18, 1920. And at the age of 9 he moved with his family to Madrid.

He began working in his father's architecture studio, where he trained in the art of the avant-garde. He enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid and expanded his studies in France, Italy and England with scholarships awarded by the Spanish and Italian governments.

Towards 1942, and under the leadership and influence of Benjamín Palencia, he participated in the Segunda Escuela de Vallecas, a group that served as the basis in the 1950s for the so-called "Escuela de Madrid". At this stage he evolved from early cubism to figurative expressionism.

He was invited to the Venice Biennial in 1940, 1950, 1952 and 1954. He participated several times in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions of Madrid, as well as in multiple group shows and solo exhibitions. He also developed important work in the art of engraving and as a book illustrator.

On May 5, 1980 he was elected a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid and where he delivered the entrance speech on November 19, 1983. In 1993 he founded the School of Figurative Painters of El Escorial.

A sample of his works is kept in the Reina Sofía Art Center, the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, the Juan March Foundation and other Spanish museums.

He arrived in Olmeda in 1962, invited by Alvaro Delgado. As he said “He liked the town because it looked like a nativity scene, with the separate houses, in a somewhat absurd way, but that one was funny…”. He resided in Olmeda until 1970 when he settled in El Escorial where he founded the school of Pinores Figurativos of El escorial.

He always maintained contact with Olmeda participating in various group exhibitions held in the municipality. He died in Madrid in February 2019.

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