Cristina Vázquez brings to MAD Antequera the everyday joy transformed into art that is a hit on Instagram

Indeed, the oil painting that serves as the poster for this exhibition at the Museo de Arte de la Diputación (MAD) in Antequera captures one of those scenes in which, in the foreground, a man raises the elbow holding his chilled bottle of beer under a parasol, whilst two women in their beach chairs chat in the background. A sense of natural well-being which, through Cristina Vázquez’s brushstrokes, amplifies the joy of living with a colour palette as luminous as it is infectious, revealing the power of her neo-costumbrista painting which, like that of Pepe Baena and other Andalusian artists, connects with our most intimate and sentimental memories, whilst also celebrating, beneath that layer of beachside contentment, women beyond the standard bikini ideal.

"Actually, 'You’re happy and you don’t even know it' is the caption on my Instagram account, because I paint those everyday moments where happiness lies, those moments we don’t commit to memory because they’re as simple as a dip in the sea, a spot of reading on a towel or a stroll along the shore when we’re free from physical and psychological burdens and we just behave as we are,” reflects the author, who, in contrast to the ‘posed’ photos of ‘epic trips’ and ‘spectacular landscapes’, sets these beach getaways against them - moments so ordinary that they end up becoming extraordinary. The grandeur of the small.

A painting on the beachfront, evoking those romantic Mediterranean beaches of Sorolla - a name that makes the artist blush, whilst at the same time she embraces it. "How can they compare me to Sorolla! But I’m delighted because it’ll be brilliant to observe the differences and similarities between the people he painted a century ago and those of today," confesses the Seville-based artist, who describes herself as a "21st-century genre painter". “It seems as though genre painting was left behind in the 19th century, in courtyards and gardens, but these scenes I paint could be set in 40 or 100 years’ time, and I’m sure the beach and the parasol will still be the same,” says Cristina Vázquez, who makes no secret of the fact that her aim is “to highlight those little, everyday moments that make you go to bed happy at night”.

– And are you happy?

“I was afraid someone would ask me that question,” she replies immediately, making no secret of the fact that the answer isn’t easy. “It’s just that I’m embarrassed to say that most of the time I am,” she confesses, almost apologetically, before adding, “Of course, I have my low days, but I used to be a bit of a whinger and, like many people, I’d be counting down the days until Friday or the holidays, but now I enjoy the everyday.” And although she never paints herself in her oil paintings, there is something autobiographical about her work. Because of the scenes she chooses and "because it reminds others, but also to me, that we must be happy," admits the artist, who immerses the viewer in those beaches of our inner, everyday paradise through 20 canvases and watercolours which, viewed from a distance, look like photographs from our family album, though they reveal the brushstrokes as you draw closer to the scene.

Fascinating are those images of girls diving headfirst or sinking beneath the water, boys playing ball in the pool, the mother and her daughters playing on the breakwater at the water’s edge, bathers searching for sea urchins and shells at low tide, or the wonderful series of women hugging and chatting as they stroll along the beach or help each other in and out of the sea: "They always look out for one another". These images, ever since she posted the first one on Instagram in the midst of the pandemic, have taken social media by storm to the point of changing Cristina Vázquez’s life.

With a degree in Fine Art, this restoration specialist gradually moved away from art towards fashion when the two worlds crossed paths in her life, eventually making costume design her profession; she even showcased her own collections at three seasons of EGO Cibeles in Madrid. But lockdown changed everything. “The sewing workshops that worked for me closed down, and at home I had canvases that I didn’t need anyone else to work on, so I started painting beaches and outdoor scenes - which is where I wanted to be - and people began commissioning paintings from me. And I’m still going strong," confesses the artist, who has nearly 60,000 followers on Instagram and sells everything she paints – which is why the exhibition in Antequera is her first solo show. It’s an exhibition she hadn’t even considered until the Provincial Council called her and persuaded her. And now, she makes no secret of her delight at the museum – which she hadn’t known about – as well as the installation and the imminent opening this Friday. “I wonder if anyone will come?” wonders Vázquez, who, true to her style, has set herself a goal for this exhibition that is as simple as it is natural: “For people to come in thinking one way and leave feeling happier.”