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| Salvador Caballero, born in 1944, is one of many self-taught
painters of whom it could be said that painting is in his blood. In
studying the work and life of Caballero, only one influential predecessor
in his history can be cited: his uncle, Vincente del Olmo, a serious
painter whom Caballero remembers fondly and studied with for several
years. Over time, Caballero perfected his talent and evolved into
a master painter, capturing the essence of Mediterranean life from
Spanish courtyards to Barcelona streets to countryside farmhouses
to lake scenes.
Caballero began his professional career as an illustrator and designer of book and magazine covers. This occupation helped him acquire the agility and precise aptitude for drawing. Caballero’s keen drawing ability allows him to work in a wide range of themes such as portraits and still lifes as well as his famous landscapes. With his knowledge of design and drawing, Caballero did not delay submerging himself in the complicated world of painting. In 1983, he held his first professional showing. His exhibits have been selective through the years, and his work has entered into the professional circuit mostly by way of merchants and gallery owners who organize their own shows of his paintings throughout the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. To fully appreciate Caballero’s work, one must look to the pictorial precedents of his artistic career. Time spent in San Feliu de Guixols, at the heart of Costa Brava in Spain, placed him in contact with the unique scenery of this beautiful coastal area and its rich Mediterranean woods. Caballero became drawn into this diverse beauty, continually renewed as he placed his easels before these varied landscapes so as to transmit to the canvas the constant emotion that this scenery provokes. In reference to landscape, he feels great attraction to the countryside, which is greatly represented in his work. The mountains, valleys and volcanoes in the areas of Garrotxa, Ripolles and Osona in Spain as well as the brave and valiant shoreline that symbolizes the coastal lands of Upper and Lower Ampurdan or Maresme provided a bounty of inspiration. His ability to reflect the reality of each environment contributes to the making of a work filled with interest, framed in detailed impressionism. The professional career of Salvador Caballero coincides with his long-time marriage to his wife, Trini Martin, who has accompanied him in the good and bad moments as a constant presence at his side. Trini’s companionship is one of the positive pages in the life of this painter who today is on his way to establishing himself, within the panorama of Catalonian painting, as one of the classic landscapists of our time. . |