Joaquín Peinado (Ronda, Málaga, 1898 - Paris, 1975) “Still life” Oil on canvas. Signed and dated “Peinado 51” 46 x 54 cm   The Andalusian painter Joaquín Peinado settles in Paris in 1923, joining the group of Spanish painters that included Manuel Ángeles Ortiz, Hernando Viñes, Francisco Bores, Pancho Cossío and Picasso, with whom he had a special friendship. He did not lose contact with Spain, keeping his friendship with García Lorca and participating in the legendary 1st exhibition of the Iberian Artists Society in 1925, as well as doing illustrations for magazines such as Litoral, Gallo and La Gaceta Literaria. He also moved in film and theatrical circles, participating in 'Un Chien Andalou' (1929) and 'L´Age d´Or' (1930) by Buñuel, as well as the performance of Falla´s 'El Retablo de Maese Pedro' in Amsterdam alongside Buñuel, Cossío, Viñes and M. A. Ortiz. He was director of the painting section of the Union of Spanish Intellectuals and a UNESCO delegate for the Spanish painters of the School of Paris. En 1946 he was one of the organisers of the great exhibition 'Art of Republican Spain. Spanish Artists of the School of Paris” which took place in Prague. From this time on his personal style accompanied him throughout his artistic career, denoting the importance of drawing, modelling, rationalisation and his peculiar use of pictorial material which achieved the transparencies and softness which give his pictures the appearance of watercolours. The Peinado Museum in Ronda has a very similar picture in its still life collection also dated in 1958. This composition sums up Peinado´s universe with the studio table on which the everyday utensils of his life lay, a scene which is repeated in the majority of his still life pictures. Delicate composition of planes of colour and geometrical shapes that take the form of glasses, sugar bowls, bottles, etc. Subtle, elegant, sober… the essence of painting.