EDUARDO ARROYO (Madrid, 1937-2018)."Vicent Van Gogh", 1995.Etching on paper. Copy 9/40.Signed, dated and numbered at the bottom.Measurements: 51,9 x 43,7 cm.Painter, sculptor and engraver, Arroyo stands out as an important figure within the neo-figurativist movement. A key figure in the new Spanish figuration, Arroyo came to prominence on the national art circuit only belatedly, from the eighties onwards, after a two-decade-long period of withdrawal forced by the Franco regime. Today, his works hang in the most reputed Spanish museums and his creativity extends to theatrical scenographies and illustrated editions. Arroyo began his career in journalism, finishing his studies in 1957. He then left for Paris, fleeing the stifling Spanish political climate of the time. Although his first vocation was as a writer, a task he continues to pursue to this day, by 1960 he was already making a living as a painter. That year he took part for the first time in the Salon de Peinture Jeunesse in Paris. His critical attitude towards dictatorships, both political and artistic, led him to take controversial initiatives. He opted for figurative painting at a time when abstract painting was overwhelmingly dominant in Paris, and his early themes were reminiscent of "black Spain" (effigies of Philip II, bullfighters, dancers), worked in a caustic and unromantic manner. At the beginning of the 1960s his plastic vocabulary moved under the American influence of pop art, and in 1964 his break with informal art became definitive. His first public impact came in 1963, when he presented a series of effigies of dictators at the Third Paris Biennial, which provoked protests from the Spanish government. That same year, Arroyo prepared an exhibition at the Biosca gallery in Madrid, which opened without his presence as he had to flee to France, pursued by the police; the exhibition was censored and closed a few days later. However, Arroyo's figurative option was slow to be accepted in Paris. The painter rejected the unconditional devotion to certain avant-gardists, such as Duchamp or Miró, which he considered imposed by fashions. His real interest was in demystifying the great masters and defending the role of the market as a protector and thermometer of art, as opposed to the network of museums and influences paid for with public money. In 1974, Arroyo was expelled from Spain by the regime, and would not recover his passport until Franco's death.