Born on 8 October 1941, to a
Basque father and an
Argentinian mother, Arranz-Bravo studied at the San Jorge Fine Arts School in Barcelona from 1959 to 1962. In 1961, he held his first individual exhibition, "15 paintings by Arranz", in the Club Universitario de Barcelona. The exhibition that brought him recognition from the Barcelona critics was that organized by the
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in 1962. Between 1968 and 1970, he was part of a group of artists consisting of Gerard Sala, Robert Llimós, and Rafael Bartolozzi Lozano (Rafael Lozano Bartolozzi), with whom he continued to collaborate until 1982, alternating between collective and individual exhibitions. His contact with these artists influenced his early work. Arranz-Bravo's early work was abstract and moved towards new figuration and pop art. All the artists, however, continued with their own work at the same time. Arranz-Bravo worked for a time together with Bartolozzi on different murals and exhibits, including the
murals covering various façades of the Tipel factory in
Parets del Vallès (1968), the ones at a hotel establishment in Magalluf, Mallorca (1973), the mural on the façade of the
Barcelona International Centre of Photography (1978), still visible in the Raval District today, and the one at Camilo José Cela's home on
Mallorca (1979). They also took part in joint exhibitions held at the Bleu Gallery in
Stockholm (1971), where his
Tauromaquias series was presented,
Sketches and marble sculptures, at the Gaspar Gallery in
Barcelona (1973, 1977, and 1979), at the Vandrés Gallery in
Madrid (1975 and 1980) and at the Tinell Exhibition Centre in Barcelona (1979):
Mides universals (
Universal Sizes). They also organised events, published books, sculptures and wooden structures. In 1981 he had his first individual exhibit. In 1982, he presented his series
Abraçades (
Embraces) at the Miguel Marcos gallery in
Zaragoza and in 1983, had a
retrospective at the Gaspar Exhibition Centre in Barcelona. Between 1986 and 1988 he created a series of lithographs called
La casa, he painted the
Pantocràtor, and worked as artistic director in the films by
Jaime Camino El balcón abierto and
Luces y sombras. Arranz-Bravo took part in the Eighth Salón de Mayo / Saló de Maig (at the old Santa Creu Hospital in Barcelona, 1964) and in the exhibitions
Muestra de Arte Nuevo (MAN, Barcelona 1971);
Picasso 90 (
Louvre Museum, 1971),
Experiencias conceptuales (Escola Eina in Barcelona, 1971–72),
Miró 80 (Mallorca 1973–74),
Artistas de Cataluña. Entre el Dau al Set y los conceptuales (
Santillana del Mar, 1974),
15 años de la Casa del siglo XV (
Segovia, 1978),
Els artistes i el seu pas per Eina (Trece de Barcelona Gallery, 1980) and
Mosaico 1983 (Madrid), among others. From 1986 to 1988 he exhibited in several cities in Spain and abroad, such as Madrid,
Amsterdam, Paris and
Rio de Janeiro. In 1989 he presented an exhibition of his work of the previous three years at the Museum of Modern Art in
São Paulo and a retrospective at
Palau Robert in Barcelona. In 1992 he held a retrospective at the Imperial Palace of Rio de Janeiro, when the only other Spanish artists to exhibit there previously had been
Pablo Picasso and
Joan Miró. He also exhibited at the Pavilion of Catalonia at the World Expo in Seville. In 1998 he had his first exhibition at the Franklin Bowles Galleries in New York, where he began an intense collaboration with this gallery, which introduced his work around the world. Exhibitions in Barcelona, Segovia, Bilbao and Bad Honnef. He presents the Faith series at the Reina Sofia National Art Center Museum in Madrid. He exhibits again in Germany, this time in Freiburg. He created the set for From the Cradle to the Chair by the Bench, by Martí Peraferrer at the Sala Muntaner in Barcelona. In 2010 He holds his annual exhibitions at the Franklin Bowles Galleries in San Francisco and New York. He also exhibits in Rome, at the Edieuropa Gallery, as well as in the city of Barcelona, at the Àmbit Gallery and at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital. At the same time, the Arranz-Bravo Foundation organizes the thematic exhibitions, Arranz-Bravo: Impacts and Arranz-Bravo. Self-portraits. In 2014 is his first exhibition in China, by the Liu Fine Arts Gallery. At the same time, he also held his first solo exhibition in Moscow. Two years later he exhibited at the Cervantes Institute in Moscow as well as at the Franklin Bowles Galleries in New York and San Francisco. The Arranz-Bravo Foundation organizes Arranz-Bravo. Drawing in action, a review of the uses and techniques used in the discipline of drawing. In 2020, the restoration of the painting of the Tipel Factory in Parets del Vallès is completed, which began in the summer of 2019. On the early morning of the 20 October 2023, he died in his
Vallvidrera-located
studio. He was 82. ==Work (description)==