Joaquín Torres-García Net Worth

Background and career

Joaquín Torres-García (28 July 1874 – 8 August 1949) was a Spanish Uruguayan painter, theorist, teacher and author, who spent most of his adult life in Spain. Later, traveled and lived in the United States, Italy, France, and Uruguay. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for founding influential schools and groups, including the Escola de Decoració (School of Decoration) in Barcelona; Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) in Paris—the first European abstract-art group, which brought together artists such as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky; the Grupo de Arte Constructivo (Constructive Art Group) in Madrid; and the Taller Torres-García (Torres-García's Workshop) in Montevideo.

In his paintings Torres-García developed a pictorial language, that was a synthesis between representation and abstraction. His pictograms, figures reduced to signs that function like a written language, were embedded within a geometric composition. His structural principles were rooted in classical traditions derived from Greek and Roman culture; he experienced in Catalonia during his youth—He first referred to it as Modern Classicism, later evolving it into what became known as Universal Constructivism. At its core was his conviction that geometry constitutes a universal visual language, shared instinctively across cultures and eras.