Jose Vidal Soler opened a solo exhibition in the country, from which he was forced to flee

A Spanish artist who has lived more than 40 years in exile in Colombia, Jose Vidal Soler, known under the pseudonym Monjalés, presents a retrospective exhibition of his revolutionary and provocative works in Bogotá.

Jose Vidal “Monjalés” Soler

These are 90 paintings, written from 1954 to the present day, which reflect all periods of the artist, from the influence of El Bosco with his abstract art of expressionists and naturalists to his own painting style.

“I don’t believe in the other world, here and now we live on earth, so I’m more observing the earthly than the heavenly,” Monjalés explains his work at the opening of the exhibition at the cultural center under the Ministry of Education of Spain.

During the Venice Biennale in 1960, he gained recognition by showing an exhibition consisting of three parts, one of which was called the Mirror of Archimedes. After which, he said, he “could not stand the slightly crazy expressionism of the political situation, which reflects the events of 1961 in Asturias”.

“For my faith and the struggle for freedom and my participation in political life, I was put on the wanted list. Then, for their own social policies, special police forces arrested and tortured Spaniards who deviated from the line of the Franco regime, i.e. those who believed in a different society, ”he said.

Thus, having been in the ranks of those who went through fighting, torture and defeat, having witnessed the tragic events in Oviedo (Asturias), the artist created one of his most famous works, “Episodios de Sama”, which depicts a pregnant woman who kicked.

His works and his political actions led to the flight from Spain, from the Franco regime, in search of political asylum in Colombia, the country in which the 80-year-old artist lives today. With this exposition, the Spanish center closes a series of exhibitions that were dedicated to the most striking contemporary Spanish authors.

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