Spain's hyperrealist genius who is running out of time

The passage of time has been kind to Antonio López. At 75, his eyes are as sparkling as they are clear. It's as if time has preserved his legendary attention to detail, a quality in full evidence at Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum on Thursday as he supervised the mounting of the most ambitious retrospective ever of his work.

The show, which opens on June 28, has been commissioned by his daughter María and the museum's chief curator Guillermo Solana. It will undoubtedly be the exhibition of the summer. The hyperrealist selection of work by the artist from Tomelloso (Ciudad Real province) is focused on his latest paintings, drawings and sculptures, with incursions into the past that reveal the "loves of a whole lifetime" - Madrid, Tomelloso, fruit trees, portraits of his home and, in particular, a homage to Greek sculpture.

"I'm interested in the description of life people make: shaving, washing..."

Question. This exhibition was originally announced as a small one. What happened?

Answer. The project was born when I received the Velázquez Award, which includes an exhibition at the Reina Sofía. Since the retrospective that the museum dedicated to me in 1993, I haven't finished a lot of new work. Three years ago, Guillermo Solana suggested that we do the show with new work, but with jumps in time. In fact, there are two paintings from 1953, two works inspired by Tomelloso. If it hadn't been like that, the exhibition would be very small. Maybe it wouldn't have been bad. When things are programmed so far in advance, I always get it wrong. I thought I was going to have more recent works to show.

Q. The most recent are your seven views of Gran Vía.

A. They are unfinished. It is going to be as if people are entering a studio where several things are on the go. It is a chance to get to know my process. If the exhibition were just of started work, I could have 500 things. Starting isn't difficult. Once I have the idea clear, putting it in motion is a matter of a week at the most. Afterwards, you enter a very difficult labyrinth.

Q. What stage are your portraits of writers Miguel Delibes and Sánchez Ferlosio at?

A. Only the one of Ferlosio is started. I'm getting interested in the human figure again. Not just mere portraits, but the entire description of life that people form: shaving, washing. This is part of the story that painting has forgotten. It is only portrayed in cinema, literature and photography.

Q. Will this new phase of yours help speed up your painting of the royal family? So much time has passed that it is reminiscent of Balzac's The Unknown Masterpiece.

A. How could you doubt it? Of course I will finish it. I have had to put it aside to work on things for the exhibition. I had to choose between everything else and the portrait.

Q. Is there a thread running through the exhibition?

A. There is no chronological order. It is divided in two spaces: an esthetic order predominates in one with essential works that are my loves and my sustenance. The other is a convergence of urban landscapes, fruit trees, portraits.

Q. Is it emotional to reacquaint yourself with so many works?

A. It is the greatest privilege, if you can bear it.