The artist was born in Barcelona in 1913. He started attending evening classes at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona when he was thirteen years old, and during the day he was apprenticed in a textile workshop. While he was apprenticed to a house painter studio in Tolosa, Spain, the naturally artistic Clavé studiously set about learning a variety of creative techniques: mixing paints, mimicking wood grain and marbling, the design of calligraphy fonts, and three-point perspective. All of the training played a significant role throughout his life and helped him to create a distinctively personal artistic style. In 1932, he was awarded second place in a competition organized by the Caisse d’Epargne de Barcelone. Clavé began to accept commercial design project commissions. He integrated the avantgarde spirit of art development into his work. His daring and immaculate style immediately won accolades in the field, and he received many project commissions, such as, in 1943, the film poster for the Spanish version of the American thriller The Invisible Man (El Hombre invisible in Spanish), directed by James Whale. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Clavé joined the Republican army and was posted to the front line in the Aragon autonomous community the following year. In January 1939, he was exiled to France along with the army and interned. While in captivity, with assistance from the artist Martin Vivès, he and other exiled Spanish artists held an exhibition with a number of sketches and portraits at the Maison Vivan in Perpignan, the capital of Pyrénées-Orientales in France. This helped him receive his release soon after. On April 5th of the same year, Clavé arrived in Paris with no identity documents and the meager payment he received for the exhibition. He managed to make ends meet by creating children's illustrations. Thus began his lifelong association with Paris. In 1941, the year after Paris was captured by the German army, Clavé moved to his new studio at 45 rue Boissonnade and completed his first lithograph series. In 1942, he welcomed his firstborn son, Jacques, and his mother moved to Paris from Spain. During this period, just as with the other European artists living in Paris at that time such as Constantin Terechkovitch and Ivan Puni, all of Clavé's works were influenced by Bonnard and Vuillard of Les Nabis. The subjects of his works were usually the tranquil scenes and people of daily life. His use of warm, gentle colors imbues the paintings with a sense of contentment. In 1944, Clavé met Picasso. Both hailing from Catalonia, the two became lifelong friends, and Picasso served as a font of inspiration for the young artist. "[…] look at this man [referring to Picasso] and his works — they are like a bolt from the blue. I did not learn about what needs to be done; instead I have learned how to remove the things which should not have been there in the first place. When I left his studio that day, I realized that I had been reborn" said Clavé. In 1946, Clavé, Picasso and a group of other artist took part in an exhibition held in Prague for Spanish painters in Paris. In 1986, Clavé created a series of artworks dedicated to Picasso, A Don Pablo, which included oil paintings and collages. This series was exhibited at a number of galleries including Galerie Regards in Paris, Galerie Sala Gaspar in Barcelona, and the Picasso Museum in Antibes, France. In 2010, the Mestni muzej Ljubljana in the capital of Slovenia organized a special exhibition series for the two artists. Clavé's well-rounded expertise and unique style attracted attention across many fields. After WWII, between 1945 to 1950, he designed stage sets and costumes for ballet. His bold avant-garde style brought his reputation to a global audience. These works include: The Caprichos for the Ballets des Champs-Elysées, Paris in 1945; Carmen for the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit in 1949, and Ballabile for Sadler’s Wells Ballet in London (now The Royal Ballet). At the same time, the artist also created designs for books and produced lithograph illustrations for classics such as Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, Prosper Mérimée's Carmen and in 1948, Voltaire's Candide. In 1954, Clavé declined all commissioned work and concentrated on purely artistic creations. In 1956, he created the Rois, Reines et Guerriers series, where he used collages to incorporate different media into the surfaces of the paintings. In the same year, he was awarded a prize by UNESCO for his outstanding lithograph works at the 28th Venice Biennale. The following year, he won the Prix Matarasso at the 5th Biennial of Sao Paulo. Beginning in the 1950s, galleries around the world competed with each other to invite the artist to exhibit his new works there. In 1965, Clavé moved to Côte d'Azur near Saint-Tropez. The warm, bright, sunny days were just like the climate of Barcelona. In his sunny, high-ceilinged studio, he began to create larger scale works and to use multiple media. He formed the structure of the images through instinct. Instead of paintbrushes, he used decorators' brushes, fabric, rollers and stamps to add more diversity and texture to the paintings. Furthermore, in a continuation of his rugged style since 1957, Clavé began to produce sculptural bas reliefs in metal and installation art pieces composed of found objects. His 1973 creation Cavaliers aux Feuilles is a homage to Spanish warriors. In this piece, created before he turned to an abstract expressionist style, the artist used found objects. It is a supreme piece of artwork for calling up patriotic memories. The wide expanse of the scene, with unhesitating and daring strokes, express the striking skills of the artist and instantly capture the heart of the viewer. In Spanish literature, the noble knightly spirit has been passed down for centuries through Epics and bloodlines. The blue-black pupils portray the determination of the dashing cavalier. The carefree laugh with bared teeth seems to imply that life and death are of no matter. Emerald green monotype textures are decorated with a light stroke of crimson. The warrior goes forth to battle and urges his steed down the tree-lined avenue. Dust roils under the horse's hooves and autumn leaves twirl in the air. This is Clavé's homage to Spanish legend. From the 1970s to the 1980s, the fame of the artist spread, and exhibition invitations came unceasingly from all over, whether from Europe, Asia or the Americas. In 1978, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris organized a retrospective exhibition for the artist. In the same year, Clavé created a 9 meter long, 3 meter high wall mural for Madrid–Barajas Airport in Spain. The Barcelona city council commissioned the artist to create a 13 meter sculptural installation for the Universal Exposition of 1888. Today, it still stands in the Parc de la Ciutadelle in Barcelona. From the 1990s onwards, largescale Clavé retrospective exhibitions were continually taking place, especially in Spain. Clavé traveled all over the world and used local culture as sources for inspiration. He integrated these elements into his own works, such as the 1990 series Vu à New York exhibited at Art Basel. Clavé led an exciting and eventful life, and when paired with his diverse and intriguing creative styles, it is no wonder that his admirers can be found all around the world. Since the artist's death in 2005, art institutions around the globe have organized numerous commemorative exhibitions for him. In 2008, the internationally renowned Fondation Beyeler of Switzerland held a major retrospective exhibition for the artist. In 2012, the Kiyoharu Art Village in Yamanashi, Japan invited architecture maestro Andou Tadao to design the Museum of Light Clavé Gallerie to commemorate this great master. His passion, which touched so many hearts, burned brightly throughout his life. Admiring the works of Antoni Clavé in detail, year by year, makes one feel as if they are enjoying a feast of 20th century art history.