The art of Sigfrido Martín Begué is surreal and futuristic at the same time, drawing on the painterly techniques of Italy and Spain’s neoclassical masters. His work embraces modern and contemporary themes while deploying deeply rooted Christian symbolism and metaphor.
The style recalls De Chirico and El Greco with a postmodern twist. Sigfrido’s figures are often elongated and stylized, and his palette is bold in places and muted in others. His sense of humor and irony is evident in almost every major work. His portfolio ranges from pencil drawings to large-scale oil paintings executed with the precision of his Spanish predecessors, and his paintings fit into large contemplative themes, from Los Autómatas to Las Máquinas.
In his Santas series, each saint represents one of the five senses, and every dress is inspired by the designs of Cristóbal Balenciaga, who opened his first boutique in San Sebastián, Spain, in 1917.
Santa Lucía – La Vista
Sigfrido Martín Begué, 1990
Image courtesy Mar Estrada; photo by Juan Luque
Sigfrido’s Santa Lucía – La Vista is a vibrant painting about vision. The large eyes in the foreground are the clue that this is Santa Lucía. With her back to the viewer, we cannot see her eyes at all. Like the other Santas, she wears a Balenciaga-inspired dress. She is taking a vision test, and on the wall the artist has created a gallery of eye charts and visual examinations. In the foreground, a small demon plays with the kind of visual trickery painters have long used.
About Santa Lucía
Santa Lucía (283–304) was born in Syracuse, Sicily, the daughter of a Roman nobleman who died when she was five. She pledged her virginity to God and gave her riches to the poor, though her widowed mother had already promised her to a wealthy pagan. When he learned that her dowry had been given away, he denounced her to the governor. According to legend, attempts to defile her and burn her at the stake failed, and her eyes were put out before her death. She is the patron saint of the blind and of eyesight.
Santa Cecilia – El Oído
Sigfrido Martín Begué, 1989
Image courtesy Mar Estrada; photo by Juan Luque
Sigfrido’s Santa Cecilia – El Oído is a beautifully composed image about sound. We know this is Santa Cecilia because the artist has seated her at the organ, one of the traditional ways she has been portrayed. Everything in the work asks us to contemplate sound, from the dog, a nod to “Nipper” of the 1898 gramophone advertisements, to the inner workings of the machine. Notice the ear canals inside the gramophone and the five mouths on top of the organ, each forming a vowel. Is Santa Cecilia listening to every sound in the room? Does she hear what the dog hears, or the voices singing as she touches the keys? Like the other saints, she wears a Balenciaga dress.
About Santa Cecilia
Santa Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who pledged her virginity to God but was married to a man named Valerian. Having “sung in her heart to God” during the wedding, she told him a guardian angel protected her. Valerian asked for proof; after his baptism he saw the angel, and he was later martyred before her. According to legend, she survived an attempt to suffocate her in the baths and lived for three days after a failed beheading, and her body was later found intact. She is the patron saint of music.
As seen in Pain and Glory
Sigfrido Martín Begué (Madrid, 1959–2010) created two of the most prominent paintings in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory: Las Costureras (1996) and Santa Casilda – El Olfato (1986).
Read more about Sigfrido’s work in Pain and Glory · Explore his work at Universo Sigfrido