Jose Maria Sicilia was born in 1954 in Madrid and grew up under the Franco dictatorship. He spent his holidays in the monastery town of Escorial near the Sierra de Guadarrama. In 1975 he joined the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1980 Sicilia moved to Paris, where he first exhibited, and in 1985 relocated to New York, where he became a close friend of composer John Cage. At this time, his early work displayed an expressionist tendency. During the 1980s he was hailed as one of the most prestigious young Spanish artists. He is known for his paintings of nature with subjects including landscapes, insects and flowers. Sicilia has spent considerable time travelling in Tangiers, Syria, Egypt, Morocco and India and his wo...