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Homunculus is the title of several works by Millares. Their composition is based on anthropomorphic shapes depicting the anguish and indignity afflicting mankind, exemplified by the figure of a despairing man (as revealed by its title) pained by his existential situation and by the vicissitudes of history. The reference here is to the unstable and even violent political situation in Spain, although it could be extended to comprise a broader image of the anguish generated in Europe by the horror of the Second World War.

This Homunculus is a paradigmatic work within the group of paintings characterised by the tears in their supports, the restriction of colour to black and white and the violence of the smears of paint. Millares discovered the use of sackcloth as a basic element in his art as early as 1956. After using it in the fashion of the Italian painter Alberto Burri, i.e., as a flat support, torn and stitched, he began to use it in the form of relief, piling it up and tying it with ropes, and adding old wooden or tinplate objects to it. Different signs, such as crosses and incomprehensible calligraphic marks and stains on the material surface, complete his manipulation, relating his work to that of Tàpies.

Spanish Abstract Expressionist painting, above all the works produced by the group El Paso founded in Madrid in 1957 (the main figures of which were Saura and Millares), revealed itself to be particularly dramatic and clearly concerned with interpreting the profound meaning of Spanish history via perturbed images linked to its most extreme aesthetic tradition. [J.V.]

Selected bibliography

• França, José Augusto. Millares. Barcelona, Polígrafa, 1977.
• De Picasso a Bacon : arte contemporáneo en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Segovia, Museo de Arte Contemporánea Esteban Vicente, 1999. pp. 120-121.
• Entre la figuración y la abstracción : arte contemporáneo en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Pamplona, Museo de Navarra, 1999. pp. 96-97.
• En el tiempo de El Paso : Rafael Canogar, Martín Chirino ... [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Centro Cultural de la Villa, 2002. p. 230, il.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 193.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 193.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 193.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 194, n° cat. 138.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 194, n° cat. 138.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 194.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 194.
• Maestros : Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao . Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 114-115, il.
• Maisuak : Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 114-115, il.
• Masters : Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 114-115, il.
• Maîtres : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bilbao. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2016. pp. 114-115, il.