jose royo

Jose Royo stands alone among contemporary impressionist painters. His works have been compared to European masters of the past such as Renior and the Valencian painters, and he manages to capture a sense of timelessness in his classical portrait pieces.

Born in 1941 in Valencia, Spain, Royo began demonstrating his artistic talent early – he entered the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia at age 14, and later studied under Aldolfo Ferrer Amblat, Chairman of Art Studies at the San Carlos Academy.

His fame and success grew over the years that followed; after a tremendously positive reception of his work after he began exhibiting in Spain, Royo was commissioned to paint the portraits of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

Royo’s style is defined by the land of his birth – the elusive colour, and intensity of light, in Valencia and the Mediterranean. As he refined and perfected his approach to these demands, Royo began exhibiting more widely, throughout London, Brussels, Copenhagen and Paris, and at the International Geneva Art Fair.

Royo combines softness – seen in the feminity of his models, and the motifs of flowers and dancing – with power and emotion, caught in the intense light and heat of his colour and texture work.