Óscar Domínguez was a surrealist Spanish painter born in La Laguna in 1906. Coming from a rich family of banana merchants, he moved to Paris in 1927 to help with the family business and there started to paint. After his father’s death in 1931, he began working in illustration to make a living. The artist painted surrealist works beginning in 1932 before joining the surrealist group in 1934 led by André Breton. He invited the group to exhibit their work on his native island from 1935-1940. In 1938’s Exposition International de Surrealisme, Dominguez exhibited a phonograph, which was then acquired by Pablo Picasso.
After this period he worked for the publication ‘La Main à Plume’ with Paul Eluard, René Magritte and Pablo Picasso as an illustrator. This meeting would go on to modify the style of his work and mark his departure from the group. In 1943 his first exhibition took place at the galerie Louis Carré where he was one of the first to use methods such as decalcomania and painting on felt. Dominguez was known to be impulsive at times and was responsible for Victor Brauner’s loss of his left eye. The death of his friend Paul Eluard in 1952 had a very important impact on the Dominguez who took his own life in 1957 in his studio. His works can be found in public collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.