Composition en Vert et Bleu  (Composition in Green and Blue) was created by Francisco Bores in 1959. This work is typical of Bores, with flat planes of vibrant colours swirled together to hint at figurative elements. A strong sense of balance and an expressive grasp of colour, this painting exemplifies Bores’ mid-career work and study of fauvism. 

Francisco Bores (1898-1971) enrolled in the painting school of Cecilio Pla in 1916. He had his first exhibition in the National Fine Arts Exhibition in 1922 and within a year he joined the Ultraist movement. While attending the academy of Julio Moisés, he met Salvador Dalí and Benjamín Palencia, and would regularly cross paths with other juggernauts of 20th Century art throughout his life. He moved to Paris in 1925 and found success after an exhibition and Gallerie Percier. In 1929, he lost favour with abstraction for a style he called “fruit painting”: a return to formality based in line, colour and light. In 1930, he participated in a group show at MoMA in New York. He returned to Madrid until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, fleeing to Paris once again, only to leave Paris as World War II broke out. This marked the beginning of his most prolific period, he began to create light filled Mediterranean landscapes and scenes of childish play. In 1966, he was named by the French Minister of Culture, an Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. 

Previously, this painting was attributed to USSR as the donor and recent research indicates a Spanish painter living in France. Markings indicate it was on display in a New York gallery.