J. Torrents Llado

( February 11, 1946 - October 6, 1993 )

1946. Joaquin Torrents Llado, son of Joaquin Torrents Culla and Maria Llado Vall, was born on 11th February in Badalona. From a small child he showed great sensitivity towards the plastic arts and, instinctively, he withdrew into the very private world of his imagination.

1956-61. He studied drawing and painting at the Academia Valls in Barcelona where Tapies and other important painters of the times were trained. Ignoring the styles that prevailed in the academy, he abandoned figurative art to dedicate himself to abstract painting and he used the artistic expression of surrealism until he was sixteen.

1962-67. Among his most notable teachers during his studies at the Escola de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi (painting section) in Barcelona, were Miquel Farre, Frederic Mares, Mestres Cabanes and Josep Puigdengolas.

1967. His fine arts studies came to an end and he qualified as a teacher of drawing. As a result of his technical superiority, he won all the school's prizes, permitting him to obtain the Fundación Amigo-Cuyas scholarship.

During the summer he visited the island of Majorca for the first time.

1968. At the beginning of autumn he decided to settle in Majorca, to be precise, in Valldemossa, and dedicated himself completely to stage designing, an activity that combined his two great passions: painting and the theatre.

1969. He resumed his creative activity by painting his first landscape of Majorca. He then set up a very charming studio with a commanding view of the whole village of Valldemossa and from there he began a marvellous series of portraits and self-portraits.

At the beginning of July, together with Carmen Crespi, he founded "Artestudio" in Calle Fray Luis de León, which would be the first drawing and painting academy in Palma.

1971. In Valldemossa, he met Josep M. Costa and, afterwards, his father Josep Costa Ferrer, Picarol. This charismatic gallery owner, one of the most important in Spain, was to organise the first exhibition by JoaquÃ%ADn Torrents in Majorca.

1972. The great variety of techniques he used (oils, wax, pencil, charcoal, red chalk) in his first monographic show surprised the critics. As a result of this exhibition he was to receive many commissions for portraits despite his efforts to try to avoid them.

1973. He left Valldemossa and moved into number nine in the Calle de la Portella in Palma's old quarter.

1974. In the spring he settled temporarly in Madrid. In the first exhibition at national level he presented a magnificient collection of portraits in the Old Home Gallery in the Calle Serrano. Torrents' painting made an enormous impression on the critics who saw in it traces of Spanish baroque. As a result of all this he established a studio in the gallery, which he later transferred to the square in Madrid, Plaza de Colon. There he began to receive commissions from Spanish, Parisian and London personalities.

1975. He moved to Sweden where he lived for a short period. During his stay there he made a portrait of Princess Cristina and established a studio in Karlavagen Street in Stockholm.

1976. JoaquÃ%ADn Torrents spent almost the whole year travelling in the United States, visiting Washington, Miami, Chicago and New York.

1977. At the beginning of January he moved to Palm Beach (Florida) to paint the portraits of several members of the Kennedy family, among others.

During the same year while visiting Palma he founded the Escuela libre del Mediterraneo in the Veri Palace.

1978. He travelled to Paris to paint the portrait which, a few months before, had been commissioned by Princess Caroline of Monaco.

1979. He held his first exhibition in the Principality of Monaco.

1980. He stayed in Majorca for a long period, during which he exhibited at the Bearn Gallery.

1981. He exhibited in Monaco Fine Arts in Monte-Carlo, under the sponsorship of Princess Caroline who wrote the introduction of the catalogue.

1982. He inaugurated another location for the Escuela libre del Mediterraneo in Barcelona - number 329 in calle Diputacio.

1985. The year had hardly began when Princess Caroline of Monaco asked him to take over stage designing the ballet 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman by Stephan Zweig. He spent the summer in his studio in Calle de la Portella, working on the designs of the costumes and decor.

1988. He received the honor of being named World Personality of the Year, an award created in Paris in 1970 to give recognition to work in the field of creation and fine arts. At the same time he was attracting the attention of the most prestigious photographers, such as David Hamilton, Helmut Newton, Cecil Beaton, Lord Snowdon, Richard Avedon, Yasuo Sano and the Spaniards, Eduardo Momene, Joan Ramon Bonet and Miquel Font.

1989. Tsunehiko Tamura made arrangements for some executives from the Prova Gallery to visit the studio in Calle de la Portella in order to establish a business relationship for the international promotion of his work.

1990. The work of Joaquin Torrents was given major importance in the Prova USA programme in the Los Angeles Art Expo.

In November he exhibited for the first time in Japan. He showed landscapes and the Light of Majorca, a collection of seventy two landscapes and seven portraits.

1991. He collaborated with UNICEF in Japan and designed a poster for children in need in Asia for the Art Aid organisation. In collaboration with the Prova Gallery, he produced a collection of silkscreen prints to be sold in Japan.

In the month of April he painted a portrait of the King and Queen of Spain, commissioned by the Autonomous Government of the Balearic Islands.

During July and August he presented a collection of seascapes in the Hotel Formentor (Majorca), which would be the last in a long chapter of exhibitions in the island.

1992. In the spring he visited Japan again and presented the collection Landscapes of Majorca in the principal Japanese cities.

1993. After the third exhibition in Japan he went to London and later paid one of his many visits to Venice for which he had a real passion. On this occasion and while he was painting what would be his last watercolors of the city, silently and without his noticing, Venice bade him his last farewell.

On 6th October, in Palma de Majorca, busy as always on projects and plans, he died suddently as the result of an aortic aneurism.

Copyright 2003 Heirs of Joaquin Torrents Llado.