With the beginning of the I WW in 1914, the Viñes left Paris settling in different locations in France until finally decide to go to Madrid, where they will remain until the end of the war. There, Hernando Viñes visits regularly the EL Prado Museum and the San Fernando Academy.
In 1919 he returns to Paris, his uncle Ricard introduces him into the artistic circles, and, following Picasso’s advice, he begins his studies at the Maurice Denis’s Sacred Art Academy and at the Grande Chaumière as well as the studios of André Lhote and Gino Severini.
In 1923 Hernando Viñes collaborates in the making of the backgrounds for Manuel de Falla’s play “El retablo de Maese Pedro”, alongside Manuel Angeles Ortiz and Hermenegildo Lanz. The play opened at the castle of the princess of Polignac.
Those years he befriends Francisco Bores, Ismael de la Serna, Pancho Cossio, Joaquin Peinado or Luis Buñuel, as well as the art critics Tériade and Christian Zervos, all regulars at the cafes and restaurants of Montparnasse.
At the end of the 1920s, attracted by Cubism and Futurism, he looks for the idea of movement and dynamism so exalted by his friend Severini. At the beginning of the 1930s he moves towards lyrical figuration. He searches for light and color and his work is more intimate, with warm colors. The theme of the open window appears in his painting becoming one of his most typical subjects.
In 1931 he marries Lulú Jourdain, who will be come one of his main sources of inspiration. Slowly his work connects with the impressionists and the fauves, following the path of Bonnard, Vuillard and Matisse.
The Spanish Civil war provokes a turn in the life of Hernando Viñes, who from Paris, focuses on the defense of the Spanish Republic alongside Paul Eluard, Aragon or Neruda. He takes part in anti-Franco activities and is one of the key organizers of the 1937 Pavillion of the Spanish Republic that featured Picasso’s “Gernika”, alongside many major works by other artists, in 1937
During the II World War his daughter Nina id born, and in his work appear the theme of motherhood. In 1940 Paris is a city overtaken by the German army, and he would join the French resistance. The financial troubles that followed those years, made him earn a living by giving flamenco guitar lessons.
Postwar years were hard: his work didn’t fit in the current trends, close to lyrical abstraction. His painting was still figurative but stronger, with bold colors, more schematic, close to the Cubist guidelines. Until the decade of the 1950s he won’t exhibit regularly again.
In 1965, despite his opposition to the Franco regime, Hernando Viñes returns to Spain and presents his first solo show in the country, organized by the Ministry of Education and the General Direction of Fine Arts. He joins Theo Gallery and will exhibit regularly in their spaces in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.
Since the mid-1960s and the decade of the 70s his subjects focus on landscape from Spain and France: Madrid. Basque Country, Provence, Brittany… He looks intensely for the sun, he captures it with his strong palette of oranges, yellows or violets.
In 1979 begins his relationship with our gallery with an exhibition focused in works from the 1928-1945 period. He will take part in all our group shows dedicated to the School of Paris.
In 1980 begins a period of recognition with major institutions holding exhibitions of his work: the House of Spain in Paris, the Fine Arts Museum of Santander or the Bonnat Museum in Bayonne. He will keep focused in landscapes of Brittany’s seaside, from Roscoff to Port Blanc, studying the changes of light during the day. In 1988 his delicate health forces him to stop painting.
Hernando Viñes diez in Paris in 1993 aged 88. His remains will rest at the cemetery of Montparnasse.
