20^th Century, Spanish
 
This Aragon-born artist and historian trained first at the School of Fine Arts of Zaragoza and later studied History of Art at the University of Zaragoza.
 
An active painter in the Aragonese art-scene, Fortún founded Intento, a group whose members, together with other new ones, went on to set up another collective called Azuda-40 (1972-1976), made up of artists from the same generation of mature painters who shared the goal of showcasing the quality of Aragon’s avant-garde painting.
 
Besides co-directing Galería Kalós together with his fellow art historian Federico Torralba, he also ran Galería Atenas. Both galleries exhibited artists at the height of their careers as well as new up-and-coming artists.
 
Fortún’s painting was first influenced by Expressionism and later by a brand of what we could call Oriental painting, and finally by . He also practiced sculpture, creating still lifes and ceramic enamels.
 
As well as his facet as an artist, Fortún was also a historian. Apart from his degree dissertation on contemporary painting, he published countless works, articles and reviews, several of them on the sculptor and painter Pablo Gargallo (1881-1934).
 
The artist’s works may be found in collections in Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the United States.