José Vilató Ruiz

José Vilató Ruiz (J.Fín) was born in Barcelona in 1916, where he will study at the Sant Jordi Fine Arts School. His artistic name comes from a diminutive used in his family: José, Josefín, J.Fín.

In Barcelona he will present his first show, but the destruction of his studio due to a bomb and his call up to join the republican army in the Spanish Civil War will stop his artistic trajectory.

In 1939, J.Fín crosses the border with France and becomes an inmate at a concentration camp in Argelés. His uncle Pablo Picasso manages to take him out and he settles in Paris until the beginning of the II World War, when he heads back to Barcelona and soon has to join the Spanish army for his military service.

After graduating in the army J.Fín returns to Barcelona and with his brother Javier Vilató, Albert Fabra and Ramon Rogent he presents a series of group and solo shows.

In 1946 he is granted a scholarship by the French government and moves to Paris where he will settle at La Ruche, the emblematic building that, at the beginning of the 20th century housed artists such as Chagall, Léger, Kisling or Modigliani among many others. La Ruche that J.Fin will find is a decrepit place where he will live with many difficulties. His work from those years will be characterized by a naked abstraction almost monochromatic, painted on any surface that he could find.

By the end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s, the exhibiting activity of J.Fín gets increasing. The French government would acquire some of his works, but his precarious health due to his difficult years at La Ruche and an emergency operation, will affect him for the rest of his life.

As well as exhibiting in France, in the 50s and 60s J.Fín will exhibit again in Barcelona, and will also take part in group shows dedicated to the School of Paris all over Europe. Since 1965, his illness forces him to rest so he splits his time between his studio and the bed until his death in Paris in 1969.

The remains of J.Fín would be sent to Barcelona to be buried at the family’s pantheon.