Joaquín Sáenz was an outstanding example of the Andalusian lyrical realism of the second half of the twentieth century, alongside other artists of his generation such as Teresa Duclós and Carmen Laffón. Self-taught, he worked from an early age at the Gráficas del Sur printing house his family ran on Calle San Eloy in Seville. It became the main theme of his painting at the beginning of his artistic career in the 1960s and on into the 1970s. From this intimate, everyday environment, Sáenz went on to develop landscapes, with austerely-depicted views of the Sevillian countryside, featuring the earthy colours, luminosity and chromatic syntheses of Cadiz's coastal landscapes, picturesque towns and villages such as Vejer and several vistas and sites in the city of Seville and the Guadalquivir River. In the mid-1970s, as his interest in capturing light evolved, he starting making larger paintings. Over the following decades, he developed this trend, while remaining faithful to his pictorial style and conception. He also made some notable still lifes and posters.

Sáenz held his first solo exhibition at the Galería La Pasarela (Seville, 1968) and went on to stage numerous shows on the Spanish gallery circuit, at venues such as Galería Theo (Madrid, 1973); Galería Juana de Aizpuru (Seville, 1973); Galería Biosca (Madrid, 1985, 1990, 1994); Galería Fúcares (Almagro, 1981); and La Máquina Española (Seville, 1986). In 1993, a retrospective of his work was held at the Sala Villasis in the El Monte Foundation in Seville. His work was also shown at several group exhibitions on realist art (including 'Realidades' ['Realities'], at the Sala de Arte El Brocense (Cáceres, 1983)) and on contemporary Andalusian art at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (1982), the Royal Monastery of San Clemente (Seville, 1992) and the Andalusia Contemporary Art Centre (Seville, 2002).

Roberto Díaz