Guillermo Muñoz Vera is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been the subject of many one-person exhibitions throughout Europe and the United States. Born in Concepción, Chile, Muñoz Vera studied at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, where he later taught at the Facultad de Bellas Artes.
In 1979 the artist moved to Madrid where he continues to work and live today. There, in 1994, along with Spanish artist Carmen Spínola, Muñoz Vera founded the important foundation, ARAUCO, la Fundación Arte y Autores Contemporáneos, which actively promotes multidisciplinary artistic ventures and offers cross-cultural programs to students from around the world.
The work of Guillermo Muñoz Vera is as consistent in its representational excellence as it is protean in the experiences reflected. Ultimately his is a personal interpretation of the human condition, confronted with conviction and subtlety, in which the artist’s technical prowess and precision never detract from the conceptual outline of his subjects.
Inspired by the large-scale paintings he created for his 2002 commission for Santiago del Chile’s La Moneda metro station, from 2003 to 2007, Muñoz Vera executed a series of oils focusing on the natural wonders of his native Chile.
A long tradition of Spanish realist painting, dating back to Diego Velázquez in the 17th century, has guided Muñoz Vera in his delicate use of light and shadows. Both his portraits and still-lifes are imbued with dexterous and subtle shading, elements recognized by Matías Días Padrón, Chief Curator of the Prado Museum in his text for the Artist’s first monograph.
Over twenty publications have been printed on the work of Guillermo Muñoz Vera, including a 442-page catalogue with 350 illustrations for his one-person retrospective mounted in 2002 by Madrid’s Centro Cultural de la Villa. Also monumental is the 400-page printing by Banco de Chile on the theoretical development and technical execution of his murals for Santiago’s metro station. In 2003, Muñoz Vera was honored with a commission to paint the portrait of King Juan Carlos I of Spain. In 2021, the Artist was commissioned to paint portraits of the twelve apostles for the Felipe Neri Oratory, a church located in the historic town of Alcalá de Henares in Spain. Most recently, in 2023 Muñoz Vera was given a comprehensive one-person exhibition by the Instituto de América in Santa Fe (Granada), Spain, for which a new 150-page hardcover book has been published.
Forum Gallery is pleased to represent Guillermo Muñoz Vera exclusively in the United States.