Painter and Fine Arts professor · 1906-1980
Painter and Fine Arts professor
José Gregorio Toledo Pérez, known as Gregorio Toledo, was a painter from La Palma and a Fine Arts professor. He developed most of his career in Madrid, specialising in portraiture, still life and lyrical figurative painting while maintaining ties with La Palma.
He was born in Villa de Mazo on 12 March 1906 and received his first training at the secondary school and School of Arts and Crafts in Santa Cruz de La Palma. In 1924 he moved to Madrid to study at the San Fernando Higher School of Fine Arts; a La Palma Island Council grant enabled him to continue that training from 1927.
During his early period he worked as a figure painter on glass at the Maumejean workshop. This experience led him to take part in restoring the stained-glass windows of Toledo Cathedral between 1939 and 1941. His painting focused on portraiture, figures, still life and Canarian-rooted subjects, with particular attention to colour and composition.
He obtained Fine Arts professorships and from 1954 held the Chair of Colour and Composition at the San Fernando School until 1976. His work is held in Spanish public collections, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, museums on La Palma and Casa de Colón.
