The master of painters to whom Girona dedicates eight simultaneous exhibitions

GironaHe arrived in Girona during the height of the Spanish Transition, when the houses that are now picturesque along the Onyar River were gray and the city's "dump." Now, the city that welcomed him has just presented him with the most extensive exhibition ever held in the municipality: eight cultural venues are displaying more than 600 of his works, divided by theme. Vicente Huedo (Socuéllamos, Ciudad Real, 1955) is more than a painter: he is also a teacher of painters. Self-taught, and with a natural talent for drawing since childhood, he has taught at the La Mercè Cultural Center for 35 years. "Girona has given me back much more than I have given it," he explains enthusiastically about the exhibition. "It's a luxury in life to feel recognized and loved. After that, I don't think anything will change: it's food for thought, and I will continue creating my own work with the peace of mind of seeing my efforts rewarded."

A perfectionist by nature—as evidenced by the neatly arranged brushes hanging in his studio—painting is his "liturgy." "Every day I need to do a drawing that takes at least an hour," he explains now that he's retired. Most of his works are small: "Size is linked to spectacle. I'm not interested in that; I want a work that's accessible, that you can have in your home. It's also the subliminal aspect of my work and ideology." This entire universe of sketches, from drawings done from his window to urban and rural landscapes, can be seen at the Casa de Cultura, the Fita Foundation, the Valvi Foundation, La Merced, Casa Masó, the Girona branch of the College of Architects of Catalonia, the Girona Art Museum, and the Girona History Museum.

The houses of the Onyar

His daily commute from the Devesa neighborhood, where he still lives and has his studio, to his job at La Mercè led him to create one of the painting series that have become staples in many Girona dining rooms and have contributed to the imagery of "Girona makes me fall in love." Figurative yet invented versions of the colorful houses along the Onyar River, after their complete restoration in the 1980s by the... color palette designed by the artists Enric Ansesa and Jaume Faixó. "Every day I crossed the bridges and from looking so much I fell in love with the image," Huedo recalls about the paintings that can be seen in Casa Masó. "At first I would take a photo and copy what was there. But then I discovered that if I rearranged them, it was the emotional synthesis of an idea, because it wasn't random, and then I started."

Popular work

The title of the book published with his complete works following the exhibition in eight spaces is precisely that. (Nothing) is trueThis is one way to explain how Huedo approaches painting. Whether it's the landscapes of La Mancha where he was born, or those of his adopted Empordà – he spends his summers in Portbou – or walks along the banks of the Ter River in Girona. "Everything is invented," he explains. "I never sit down to paint in front of a landscape. Like a Neanderthal who saw an animal and painted it in the cave. The ritual is the same." But at the same time, the exhibition's title evokes a certain "provocation" regarding the kind of work he has done throughout his life: a very accessible, popular art. A "nod" to a socio-political reality in which "everything is an economic issue."

The Pasture

But if Huedo used to look at a landscape and see the "heroic part," now he says he focuses on the "small part, the blade of grass, what goes unnoticed." It is these "small and insignificant things" that can be seen at the Valvi Foundation until this Saturday. And what has motivated him above all is life in his neighborhood, Devesa. Located next to the city center and built between 1999 and the bursting of the housing bubble, it is a residential area that, for the painter, has "the most human streets in Girona." His studio is a humble space, as he himself describes it, emptied for the past month of almost all his work due to the retrospective being held in Girona. But it is a space he inhabits every day: "I'm a hard worker, it's something I inherited from my father. If I'm not feeling inspired, I come here to tidy up." Across the street is his house, a witness from its window to the entire transformation the neighborhood has undergone: from fields to a new expansion full of green spaces. "Wherever I go, I always draw the window like a painting," he emphasizes regarding the architectural sketches that can be seen at the COAC Girona.

La Mancha and La Merced

Perhaps the picture-postcard landscape of Girona is the most well-known aspect of Huedo's work, but this exhibition offers the opportunity to explore another, invented dimension: that of the natural landscapes, including those around Socuéllamos. It's from the life he left behind as a "bohemian and wild young man," who didn't fit in with his "strong-mouthed Falangist father." Now he returns every September and maintains a studio from which he recreates the landscapes of the central plateau. He began drawing as a child, but quickly realized that studying Fine Arts in Valencia wasn't for him. Thanks to Sebastià Parra, he discovered Girona, and as a teacher at La Mercè, he created his own language for teaching. Always in a playful way. "It's not the same to set rules for yourself as it is to impose them," he reflects. Now, the exhibition series seeks to be a tribute to a master. "My goal isn't to sell, but to paint and have a good time," he concludes.