Manolo Millares. Fallen Figure I

The Sabatini Building (Space 1) at the Reina Sofía Museum will host an exhibition from 9 September to 16 February 2027 devoted to one of the leading representatives of Informalism and a key figure of Spanish painting from the second half of the 20th century. This exhibition coincides with the centenary of the birth of Manolo Millares (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1926 - Madrid, 1972). The exhibition focuses on the painting Fallen Figure I, which was created just two years prior to the untimely death of Millares at the age of 46, just when he was gaining major international acclaim. This painting is folded into a crumpled volume, like the seams of a bandaged wound or the suspended body of a homunculus tangled in its burial cloth. The fabric is an agonised protest, similar to death on the cross, a dislocated painting with the tautness of a shroud spread over a serene red horizon with a tone of dried blood. At this final stage of his career, a graphic factor can be seen from the volumetric sack-like wrapping of Alberto Burri’s paintings that Juan Manuel Bonet has compared to those used by Antoni Tàpies or Cy Twombly: an enigmatic writing that reaffirms the illegibility of canvas itself. From all this violence, white emerges as grief, but also as hope. As in his greatest works, there are traces of finiteness, along with the hopeful possibility of a renewal yet to come. Millares wrote: “I believe my art is a slap to death to justify life”. The Reina Sofía Museum currently holds around thirty pieces by Millares in its Collection, including graphic art, drawings and paintings. Eleven works donated by the Millares family stand out among them. Single Piece is a room devoted to the temporary display of one painting from the Reina Sofía Museum’s Collections. This provides special attention beyond the framework of permanent-exhibition narratives. Image Credit: Manolo Millares, Fallen Figure I, 1970, mixed technique on hessian. © Manolo Millares, VEGAP, Madrid, 2026