Xavier Vilató i Ruiz, known artistically as Javier Vilató (Barcelona, November 11, 1921 - Paris, March 10, 2000) developed his career, as a painter, engraver and sculptor, between Barcelona and Paris, where he arrived in 1946, accompanied by his brother Josefín (J. Fin) thanks to a scholarship from the French Institute.
Nephew of Pablo Picasso - son of his sister Lola and the neuropsychiatrist Joan Baptista Vilató, in Paris he became son-in-law of the painter Élie Lascaux, who was brother-in-law of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and uncle-in-law of Michel Leiris, all of them prominent names in art of its time, when Paris was its international reference center.
In 1939, as soon as he left the Argelès concentration camp, where he had been confined with his brother, he began a very intense artistic career (painting, drawing, sculpture, engraving, ceramics, murals...) that, over time, gave him opened the doors of centers such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Georges Pompidou in Paris or the Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Vilató was a vital, passionate, energetic artist, translator of the Mediterranean light and color that always accompanied him, both in Barcelona, in the French Midi or in the Alicante summers.
Vilató's close relationship with his uncle became almost fraternal, sharing artistic interests such as an attraction to the Mediterranean or love confidences and secrets, which entailed a reciprocal exchange, beyond being an exclusively univocal relationship.
In 2012, and under the title Vilató (1921-2000).
selected works
En la playa
Oil on canvas (45x55)