Sofia Martinez

Sofia Martinez paints the way novelists write - slowly, obsessively, with an almost archaeological attention to surface. Born in Seville, she trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes before spending five years restoring Old Master paintings at the Prado. That intimate knowledge of historical technique infuses her contemporary compositions: richly glazed oil paintings that depict domestic interiors, empty courtyards, and figures caught mid-gesture. Critics have compared her light to Vermeer and her atmosphere to Hopper. Sofia divides her time between Madrid and a farmhouse in the Alpujarras, where she paints by natural light.