BARTOLOME SASTRE

Bartolomé Sastre was born in Pollensa, a small village in Mallorca which is an important meeting place for artists. At 14, he traveled to Barcelona study fine arts. In 1980, he began exhibiting his work in national and international galleries. His fame began to grow rapidly, however, following his first exhibition at Austin Galleries in Texas. His passion for challenges has led him to paint in many countries, although recurring themes were Italy (Venecia), France (Giverny), Portugal, and in recent years, eastern countries such as India, Tailandia, and Morocco. His extreme refinement has led him to visit the most important museums in the world studying the great masters which brought something to his personal way of painting. His work rests on three pillars: Velázquez, Rembrandt and Sorolla. His passion for life is reflected in his work; passionate, sensible, and vital, stopping not only at the external aesthetic appearance, but going further, desperate to capture the lost paradise that he believes can be found at any time if one only knows how to look.  His increasingly sophisticated purist work drifts into an oriental minimalism. His portraits full of symbolism. He not only ventures to paint the subject, but to tell a story derived from the fruit of their conversations together. "Painting itself is telling a story," he says, "you can describe in a single point or an elaborate and extensive prose, but the important thing is that this well told."