Robert Llimós

Robert Llimós i Oriol was born in Barcelona on 19 October 1943. His father was the painter Camil Llimós i Aubí. He studied at the Escola Massana and at the Escola Superior de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi in Barcelona.

Llimós began as part of a team with the painters Eduard Arranz Bravo, Rafael Bartolozzi and Gerard Sala, who came to public attention with a joint exhibition in 1964, and he was associated with the New Figuration movement in the second half of the 1960s. He took part in the São Paulo Biennial in 1967 and 1969.

In 1969 he separated from the group and moved into conceptual art. Among his actions was Llimós en marxa (1972), an athletic walk performed at the Encuentros de Pamplona and at documenta 5 in Kassel. He came back to painting after a commission to paint a trompe l'oeil mural for the March family's residence at Cala Ratjada, Mallorca. From then on his painting was figurative and expressionist, built on strong colour and the human figure, and his output also took in sculpture, prints, murals and posters, including the poster for Barcelona's La Mercè festival in 1985.

He lived in New York from 1975 to 1983 and in Miami from 1987 to 1988. Galleries that showed him included Galeria Maeght and Galeria Joan Prats in Barcelona and the Sala Pablo Ruiz Picasso in Madrid. In 1992 he exhibited in the Catalonia pavilion at Expo 92 in Seville, in 1993 a retrospective, Llimós a la Tecla, was held at Tecla Sala in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, and in 1994 he received the National Prize for Visual Arts of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

His public works in Barcelona include the doors of the garden of the Torre de les Aigües (1987), Lignes de tête (1991) in the Fran Daurel sculpture garden at the Poble Espanyol, Marc (1997) in the Port Olímpic, and Miraestels (2010), the floating figure off the Rambla de Mar. A similar figure stands off the Sant Sebastià beach in Sitges. Works with a strong social theme included Sitting Bull, on the disappearance of indigenous communities, Fragment ruandès, on the Rwandan genocide, and the monumental Metamorfosi, on weapons of mass destruction and the September 11 attacks.

After 2009, when he said he had seen a UFO on a beach at Fortaleza in Brazil, his painting and sculpture centred on portraits of the beings he described. The change cost him much of his standing with critics and institutions, and he later said that the galleries did not want to know.

Llimós lived between New York, Miami, Mallorca and Barcelona, and in later life lived in Barcelona. His son Marc died in a car accident aged 24 in 1995. Llimós dedicated the sculpture Marc to him, and told La Vanguardia that the loss plunged him into a deep depression from which he never fully recovered. In his later years he said he was supported by the foundation of Nando and Elsa Peretti.

Robert Llimós died in Barcelona on Monday 26 October 2026, aged 83. His death was announced by the Fundació Vila Casas in a message on X and reported on 27 October by Europa Press, El Periódico, La Vanguardia and VilaWeb. The cause of death was not made public.

The foundation said it had been working closely with him in recent months on an exhibition of his work from the 1970s at its Can Framis museum, due to open on 9 November 2026, and that the show would now become a heartfelt tribute to the man and the artist. His wake was held from Wednesday 28 October at the Mémora Sancho de Ávila funeral home in Barcelona.

Llimós is remembered for a restless career that refused labels, from the New Figuration and conceptual action art to vivid expressionist painting, and for public sculptures such as Marc and Miraestels that became familiar sights on Barcelona's waterfront. His work is held in collections including the Museo Reina Sofía, the Fundació La Caixa, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava and the Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Espírito Santo in Brazil.