Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau


Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto is a Spanish hyperrealist painter who specialises in historical military paintings that portray different eras of the Spanish Armed Forces through hyperrealistic naturalism. On 11 January 2022, he founded the Ferrer-Dalmau Foundation with the aim of promoting defense culture through history and art.
WWW augustoferrerdalmau.com

Biography and work

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto was born in Barcelona in a family of the Catalan bourgeoisie linked to Carlism. He studied at St. Ignatius College in Sarriá. At the end of the 1980s he worked as a textile designer for different firms, always maintaining his passion for oil painting. His vocation for military and history also led him to paint this subject from a very young age and write a book, although his first independent and self-taught works were landscapes, especially seascapes.
Later, inspired by the work of Antonio López García, he focused on urban environments and captured in his canvases the spots of his native Barcelona. He exhibited in art galleries, and garnered hits and good reviews. The work of this time is collected in a monograph of the author and in several general books of contemporary art. At the end of the 1990s he decided to specialize in the historical-military theme and began to produce canvases where the landscape is mixed with military elements such as soldiers and cavalry.
Installed in Madrid since 2010, he has collaborated with different publishers, associations, institutions, and specialized entities in the recreation of the military history of Spain. Different monographic books on his painting have been published. A man committed to culture and art, he founded his own magazine, FD Magazine, in which he approaches the history of Spain and its people from an artistic and social perspective. His work and diffusion is managed by the company Historical Outline, and his paintings illustrate numerous books, covers, and magazines, especially of history.
Ferrer-Dalmau has been in the zone of operations of an international conflict like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Mali, Lebanon, Somalia and Djibouti, making sketches, taking notes and painting, while living with the Spanish ISAF troops in 2012 and in 2014 in the province of Helmand with the Georgian Armed Forces. The painter shared experiences with the ASPFOR XXXI contingent, trained at the base of the Parachute Brigade, at Qala i Naw and at the Ricketts Combat Outpost in Moqur. It is the first time that a Spanish painter goes to a mission abroad to collaborate with the Ministry of Defense of Spain. However, it is not an exceptional practice because other armies have war artists, such as the US Marine Corps, which currently has three official artists, one of them Michael D. Fay, president of The International Society of War Artists, of which Ferrer-Dalmau is a member. The painter made his work La Patrulla as homage to the Spanish soldiers. In May 2016 he was painting the Spanish troops in the mission of Lebanon, in April 2018 with the Spanish Army in the European Union Training Mission in Mali, in September 2018 in Aleppo with the Army of the Russian Federation and in November 2019 he was painting the Spanish troops in Iraq.

Art exhibitions

In addition to private collections, Ferrer-Dalmau's work can be seen at different museums, such as the Museum of the Royal Guard, the Army Museum, the Museum of the General Military Academy, the Naval Museum of Madrid, the Museum of Intendance, the Naval Military Academy of Marín, the Museum of Modern Art of the Republic of Georgia, and at the Royal Palace of Valladolid.
Throughout his professional career he has held individual exhibitions at private galleries in Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris and New York as well as at institutional centers such as:

Honours and awards

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

Awards

National awards

  • Ambassador for "Marca Ejército".
  • Academician of the Royal Academy of Saint Romualdo of Sciences, Letters and Arts.
  • Academician of the Academy of Military Arts and Sciences.
  • Academic numerary of the Diplomacy Academy of the Kingdom of Spain.
  • Merit Cross of the Royal Association of Hidalgos of Spain.
  • Sabino Fernández Campo ABC y BBVA Awards.
  • Lancer of Honor of the Cavalry Regiment "Spain".
  • Lancer of Honor of the Cavalry Regiment "Farnesio".
  • Cavalier Almogávar Paratrooper of Honor.
  • Armored Soldier of Honor of the Armored Brigade Guadarrama XII.
  • Honorary Halberdier of the Spanish Royal Guard.
  • Honorary Mountain Hunter of the
Mountain Cavalry Regiment "America" No. 66.
  • Honorary Mountain Hunter of the Armored Cavalry Regiment "Alcántara" No. 10.
  • Honorary Arquebusier of Light Infantry Regiment «Soria» No. 9.
  • Honorary Member of the Infantry Regiment Asturias.
  • Honorary soldier of the RT 22
  • Honorary Húsar of Regiment Pavia.
  • Honorary Gunner of the RACA20.
  • Ferrer-Dalmau Awards of the Diplomacy Academy of the Kingdom of Spain.
  • Medal of the 350 Anniversary of the Asturias Infantry Regiment.
  • Commander of the Duque of Ahumada NCO Association.
  • Partner of Honor of "Círculo Ahumada de la Guardia Civil".
  • Partner of Honor of "Los Sitios de Zaragoza".
  • Partner of Honor of the "Círculo de Amigos de las Fuerzas Armadas".
  • Regular of Honor of G. R. Melilla 52.
  • Azor Award of the Infantry Brigade Airborne «Galicia» VII.
  • «Animosus Dux» of the Mechanized Infantry Brigade «Extremadura» XI.
  • Cross of Burgundy of the Spanish Heraldic Society.
  • National prize «Living Culture» to the plastic arts.
  • "Mariblanca" Prize of the House of Madrid in Barcelona.
  • "Racimo" Painting Prize 2016.
  • Diploma of the General Inspectorate of the Army.
  • "Capitán de Galeones" Award of the "Fundación Puerta de América".

Foreign awards

  • Member of «The International Society of War Artists».
  • Gold Medal and brilliants of the Arts «Art Priest».