1934-2021

The painter Carmen Laffón de la Escosura passed away in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on 7 November, at the age of 87. A referent of figuration in Spain, Laffón was born in Sevilla to a cultured and well-to-do family – her parents had met at the Residencia de Estudiantes – and was schooled at home with different professors. After this heterodox and fertile education she soon embraced painting. First she learnt from local masters like Manuel González, but ended up graduating at Madrid’s School of Fine Arts before travelling to Paris – where she was captivated by the work of Marc Chagall –, Rome and Vienna, and before returning to Spain where, through gallerist Juan Mordó, she met young avant-garde artists like Millares, Saura or Palazuelo, though her way of painting was far away from theirs. Discreet and humble on a personal level, Laffón remained stubbornly faithful to figurative painting, and turned Andalusian landscapes – in particular the mystical, almost abstract ones of Doñana – into her main theme. After a belated recognition, Laffón became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in the year 2000.