Nicolás Massieu y Matos

He came from a family with an artistic tradition linked to Manuel Ponce de León and Nicolás Massieu y Falcón. He trained first with the latter and in drawing education in Las Palmas. His travels to Liverpool, Rome and, above all, Paris expanded his references: between 1905 and 1906 he attended academies and studios in the French capital, where he encountered the transformations of modern painting.

On his return he built a personal language without mechanically adhering to the avant-gardes. Portraiture and still life form part of his production, but landscape was his main field. Thick material, palette-knife work and an intense palette enabled him to work with the light and structure of Gran Canaria's terrain; for this he became known as the «painter of Gran Canaria».

In 1914 he obtained the chair of Drawing at the General and Technical Institute of Las Palmas and held it until retirement. He also took part in the early years of the Luján Pérez School and taught his niece Lola Massieu. His work is held in island public collections, including Casa de Colón, TEA and the Parliament of the Canary Islands, and remains a reference for understanding the modernisation of landscape painting in the archipelago.