Antonia Portalo: fantasy and the colours of maternal feeling

The artwork of painter Antonia Portalo Sánchez expresses from the very first moment a primal calling towards colour and the desire to paint. Largely self-taught and backed by her Fine Arts studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, the artist, far from any academic or orthodox style, gives free rein to the most spontaneous side of her emotions and feelings, and above all gives us sincerity. That childlike excitement she confesses to feeling in front of a box of watercolours can still be felt and recognised inside her creations.

The defined line of her forms shows a certain ease with drawing and expresses that wish for the direct visual pull of illustration. Her artworks carry us this way into the pages of a children's story, where we learn the essential difference between the spirits of the seasons, with the magical presence of woman as energy, as fairy, as a fantastical being who walks beside us and protects us with her tenderness as our episodes unfold. In this sense, Antonia Portalo Sánchez's paintings are touched, almost to the extreme, by that maternal love, generous and infinite, which we refuse to let go of.

A study of woman, of her contours and her welcoming expressions, of woman as mother, as shelter, as the first recipient and heart-blinded critic of our steps and our passions. So the Renaissance women portrayed by Portalo, the influence of Botticelli's Simonetta Vespucci on her depiction of spring is undeniable, hold within them the classical ideal of beauty. An inner classicism that contrasts with that free and carefree filling up of forms and colours, meant to create for us a world that is more tangible and close at hand.

Aesthetically, her depictions are dominated by the geometric predominance of circles, concentric, interlaced, scattered, like one of those visual games of fixed and frenetic spirals where you stare at them and the effect makes you believe they are moving. This effect, which together with the melting pot of fragmented colours and lights reminds us of looking at a stained glass window lit from behind, gives life and movement to her creations.

Among her artworks we can single out Mujer azul (III), an acrylic on canvas dealing with the nude of a woman in bluish tones, with that atmosphere of evocation and magic we mentioned around the female figure as a symbol of spirituality, close to elvish tales where time runs to another beat. Other paintings of hers worth mentioning are those that address the feeling of motherhood and life, Maternidad (I), or her series of paintings on the different seasons of the year, among which we can pay attention to Otoño (II), although the interesting thing would be to look at them and analyse them as a whole.

Find out more about Antonia Portalo Sánchez and her artwork here!