Àngel Planells i Cruañas

About

Àngel Planells i Cruañas was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Cadaqués on December 2, 1901, into a poor family whose artistic abilities were encouraged from childhood. He studied painting, lithography, and engraving in Barcelona beginning in 1918, though he returned home due to economic difficulties. In Cadaqués, he developed friendships with influential artists including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and other surrealist figures, becoming a key representative of the Emporda School of Surrealism. Planells published his first surrealist poems and art criticism in 1928, and held his first individual exhibition in 1930 at the Dalmau Galleries in Barcelona. In 1936, he was part of the Logicofobista group and exhibited three works at the London International Surrealist Exhibition, where his work was purchased by renowned collector Roland Penrose. After the Spanish Civil War, he taught at the School of Arts in Blanes while painting landscapes and still lifes, eventually returning to surrealism in 1974. He continued creating surrealistic canvases until his death in Barcelona on July 23, 1989.

Surrealism, with later work in landscapes and still lifes