Joaquín Torres-García (28 July 1874 – 8 August 1949) was a prominent Uruguayan-Spanish artist, theorist, and author, renowned for his international impact in the modern art world.

Joaquín Torres-García was born on July 28, 1874, in Montevideo, Uruguay, a bustling port city amidst the South American Pampas.

The colonial Montevideo had a port, trains, and a vibrant population dotted with countless gauchos wrapped in capes with whip ready in hand.

"[2] "Much of his early education in that predominantly agricultural society came from his observation of the things around him ... "[3] In 1891, Torres-García's father moved the family back to Spain, where Torres-Garcia and his siblings acquired Spanish citizenship.

Both began their artistic lives in modern Barcelona ... whose privileged epicenter was the cafe Els Quatre Gats ..."[6] Classmates included Ricard Canals, Manolo Hugue, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, Pablo Picasso, and Julio Gonzalez.

Accompanying the review were a portrait of Torres-García by Ramon Casas, photographs of several of Torres-Garcia paintings, including one on the magazine's cover, and his first article, 'Impressions'.

He wrote a text for Torres-García's exhibition at the Galeries Dalmau in 1912 and often mentioned his work in 'La Ben Plantada,' a book epitomizing the noucentisme movement.

In classicism, Torres-García sought a model for order, a language, and a cultural reference point that would enable him to transcend realism and develop Catalan art on a universal scale.

In 1907, Torres-García began his teaching career and soon became involved with the experimental school Colegio Mont d'Or, founded by his friend and progressive educator Joan Palau Vera.

Breaking away from the conventional academic methods of the time, Colegio Mont d'Or eschewed traditional copy exercises from casts, prints, or books.

Instead, drawing lessons were grounded in direct observation of reality, using common household objects, leaves, fruits, fish, flowers, and animals.

In 1911, Torres-García showcased his painting 'Philosophy X Musa' at the sixth International Exhibition of Art in Barcelona, subsequently donating it to the Institut d'Estudis Catalans.

In the introduction, he wrote: "Aquestes curtes notes poden tenir interès, demes, per anar estretament lligades, com quelcom de viu, a tot o que arrencant de la nostra tradició, en el pensament i en la realitat, tendeix a formar el ver Renaixement e Catalunya" ("These short essays may be of interest also because they are closely related to, something that is alive, sprung from our tradition, in thought and in reality, to form the true Renaissance of Catalonia").

He designed, built, and decorated his home in Tarrasa ("Mon Repos") with frescoes, and invited friends and pupils to a housewarming party.

"[1] "Despite being one of the most important artists of the moment, Torres García did not lull, and in 1920 he went to New York to continue exploring what they called modernity and began to cling to the ephemeral and temporal, what he drew in the city of skyscrapers connects with what John Dos Passos reflected in Manhattan Transfer.

"[21] Torres-García visited Paris for a second time with thirty-two crates of paintings after an encounter with his friend Picasso, who advised him to remain there: "Do not to go to America, because it will be like leaping into a void".

He exhibited at the Whitney Studio gallery[23] and the Society of Independent Artists with Stuart Davis and Stanisław Szukalski in 1922, describing his work as "expressionistic and geometric at the same time, and very dynamic".

"Forty works make up this presentation of Torres-Garcia first exhibit here at Galerie Fabre: frescoes, fragments of large murals, assembled architectural maquettes, still life or figures ...

Some urban landscapes will give an idea of the passage of Torres-Garcia by New York were a feverish spectacle of the business city captivated some time his artistic inquietude in search of its rhythm.

As a correspondent for the Catalan literary magazine Mirador he wrote a series of articles on painters, including an interview with Georges Braque.

[2] Torres-García left for the Community of Madrid and finished the manuscript of Arte Constructivo, which was published in 1935 under the name of "Estructura" and dedicated to his friend Piet Mondrian.

In August of that year, Torres-García exhibited paintings, sculptures and the work of the Cercle et Carre group and reedited the magazine as Circulo y Cuadrado.

[22] Torres-García founded the Taller Torres Garcia, similar to the European Bauhaus, two years later; the school included future artists Olga Piria, Gonzalo Fonseca, José Gurvich, Alceu Ribeiro, Julio Alpuy, Raquel Orzuj, Lily Salvo and his sons, Horacio and Augusto.

Torres-García died on 8 August 1949 while preparing two exhibitions: one at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York and other at the Pan American Union in Washington.