Lita Cabellut: From Street Child to Iconic Painter
Lita Cabellut (1961, Spain) is an artist who lives and works in The Hague (Netherlands), whose work has become a benchmark in contemporary art. As a fully-fledged artist, her creative activity spans multiple disciplines. She not only needs painting to express herself; her creative drive to capture the fragility and strength of the human spirit reaches out and traverses the most diverse techniques and creative fields, from sculpture to photography, from installation art to video art and performance, from illustration to costume design, not excluding opera set design, graphic art, or poetry, all of which are necessary disciplines in her tireless pursuit of emotional connection with the public through art, delving into the depths and dichotomies of the human soul.
Her working method is based on reflection and detailed study of the selected motif as the main concept that she later develops in her atelier. The pieces she develops on a large scale combine traditional techniques and modern applications. The characters chosen are the communication channel of the concept. Through these characters that act as interlocutors, the human being, the social message, brutality, selfishness, ignorance, or transcendence are the central themes in her work.
Her creative process is visceral and physical, and this is reflected in the texture, gestures, and unvarnished emotional intensity of her large-scale pieces. She considers art a key element for transforming and improving society.
She was born in Sarinena, Aragon, Spain, in 1961. From childhood she experienced poverty and homelessness, roaming the streets of Barcelona with other children and sleeping outdoors. “My childhood was like that of thousands of street kids around the world,” says Lita Cabellut. She used to take coins out of the fountains, beg Zippo lighters from sailors and steal tourists' wallets. We used to go into restaurants and say our father was in the toilet when they served us, before wolfing down the food and running off.
“I ran errands for the prostitutes. They gave me money to buy packs of cigarettes, sandwiches, condoms or jewellery, and I kept the change.” She didn’t go to school and it never crossed her mind that one day she would become one of Spain's most successful artists. “My expectations were to be a dancer, to fly, to be stronger than all children around me. The expectation of a child is always the same - poor or rich, we want to be superheroes.”
Her grandmother died when she was about 12 years old and she ended up in an orphanage before being adopted by “a beautiful Catalan family” at the age of 12. They introduced her to art. They took her to Madrid's Prado museum, and introduced a 13-year-old Cabellut to Goya’s dark and haunting Pilgrimage to San Isidro, which was painted between 1820 and 1823. “I recognised in this painting the expressions in the eyes of the people that I crossed in the streets when I was little,” she says. “This painting describes the madness, the hope, the terrific moments that the human being can have when you lose your security. For me, when I saw this painting for the first time I felt the complicity of being a witness.”
She started to take classical painting technique classes four times each week and had her first exhibition at the age of 17 at the Town Hall of Masnou, Barcelona. She moved to Amsterdam's Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 1982 and studied between 1982 and 1984. During these years her work would be influenced by the Dutch masters, and she developed some of the artist techniques that have become her distinguishing mark.
Her artistic language is characterized by a bold use of color and texture, combining traditional techniques with modern applications. She considers art a key element for transforming and improving society. Her technique is an amalgamation of influences characterized by her ability to mix disciplines that make it easier for the medium not impede to her language. Artists such as Goya, Velázquez, Ribera, Rembrandt and El Greco inspired her vision.
- She developed a contemporary variation of the classic fresco technique.
- Her palette style is influenced by her obsession to provide her characters with a skin.
She has explored culture and religion, focusing on some of the most influential religions that have been known to humanity. Her works have been exhibited in museums such as CSMVS, Mumbai, India; Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea; Museo Arte Contemporánea Sicilia, Catania, Italy; Théâtre Mogador, Paris, France; Copelouzos, Greece; YUZ Museum (Shanghai), Shanlight Art Museum (Guiyang) in China; The Fendi Collection, Italy; Vila Casas Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Goya Museum (Zaragoza), Spain; The RAK Art Foundation, Riffa, Bahrain; The Joop & Janine VandenEnde Foundation and The Paul van Rensch Foundation, the Netherlands.
Her complete artistic identity, in combination with her torrential force and extraordinary capacity, drives her artistic activities in multiple disciplines and media. Beyond her monumental paintings, her work includes sculpture, photography, installations, video art and performance. She has also collaborated with opera scenography in the creation of stage, costume, and video design. What guides all these multidisciplinary tools is Lita Cabellut’s poetic sense, at the core of everything she approaches.
Her works have been exhibited in numerous museums around the world, including the Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea; Museo Arte Contemporánea Sicilia, Catania, Italy; CSMVS The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Mumbai) in India; Théâtre Mogador, Paris, France; Copelouzos, Greece; YUZ Museum (Shanghai), Shanlight Art Museum (Guiyang) in China; The Fendi Collection, Italy; Vila Casas Foundation, Barcelona, Spain; Goya Museum (Zaragoza), Spain; The RAK Art Foundation, Riffa, Bahrain; The Joop & Janine VandenEnde Foundation and The Paul van Rensch Foundation, the Netherlands.
She has received various distinctions such as Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Barcelona (2024), Artist of the Year in the Netherlands and recently the Commander of the Royal Order of Isabel la Católica (2024).
