# Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto (Barcelona, 20 January 1964) 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 presented the Ferrer-Dalmau Foundation with the aim of promoting defense culture through history and art.

## Biography and work

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto was born in Barcelona in a family of the Catalan bourgeoisie linked to Carlism (he is the great-nephew of the Carlist journalist and historian Melchor Ferrer Dalmau). 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 (Batallón Román), 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 (Ferrer-Dalmau) 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 and Lebanon, 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 (COP) 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 (The Patrol) 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 (EUTM-Mali), in September 2018 in Aleppo (Syria) 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 (Royal Palace of El Pardo, Madrid), the Army Museum, the Museum of the General Military Academy (Zaragoza), the Naval Museum of Madrid, the Museum of Intendance (Avila), the Naval Military Academy of Marín (Pontevedra), 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:
* Army Museum of Toledo
* Palacio de Capitanía
* Royal Palace of Valladolid
* Audience Palace of Soria
* es:Museo Provincial de Pontevedra
* Sant Ferran Castle of Figueras
* Palacio de Buenavista of Madrid
* Palace of the Captaincy of Canarias en Tenerife
* Militar Palace of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
* Castle of Santa Catalina in Cádiz
* Palace of the Captaincy of Barcelona.
* Palacio de los Concejos of Madrid
* Provincial Palace of Alicante
* Town Hall of Valladolid
* Miramar Palace (San Sebastián)
* Roman Museum Oiasso of Irún
* Palace of the Captaincy of A Coruña
* Palace of the Cigüeñas of Cáceres
* Cultural Centre of Amaia (Irún)
* International Conference on Defense and Security (Georgia)
* Exhibition of the "Camino Español" in Strasbourg, Brussels, Besançon and Breda
* General Command of Ceuta
* Oratory Sant Felipe Neri of Cordova
* Museum of the Battle (Bailen)
* Consistorial House of Valladolid
* Palace of the Captaincy of Badajoz.
* Sant Agustin Cultural Center of El Burgo de Osma
* House of America (Madrid)
* Palace of the Captaincy of Burgos
* Bolduque Church (Holand)
* Saint Barbara Palace (Madrid)
* Santa María la Rica de Alcalá de Henares
* Iberdrola Tower of Bilbao
* Louisiana State Museum» de Nueva Orleans
* Museo Central de las Fuerzas Armadas Moscú
* Museo Nacional de los Inválidos de París

## Honours and awards
### Honours
#### National honours

* Doctor honoris causa from the CEU San Pablo University.
* Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Santa Isabel de Hungría (Seville).
* Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts.
* Commander by Number of the Order of Isabella the Catholic.
* Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (with white decoration).
* Grand Cross of the Order of Naval Merit (with white decoration).
* Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Civil Guard Corps.
* Grand Cross of the Fidelity Cross.
* Commander of the Order of Civil Merit.
* Silver Cross of the Order of Merit of the Civil Guard Corps.
* Cross of the Order of Naval Merit (with white decoration).
* Cross of the Order of Police Merit (with white decoration).
* Medal of Merit of Civil Defence (with white decoration).
* Medal of the Century of the Virgen del Pilar as patron of the Civil Guard.
* Medal of the V Century of Saint Barbara as patron of the Artillery Weapon.
* Master of Honor of the Chivalry of San Fernando.
* Madrid Gold Medal.
* Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Charles V.
* Honorary Civil Guard.

#### Foreign honours

* NATO Medal for International Security Assistance Force. ( NATO)
* Grand Star Serge Lazareff Prize. ( NATO)
* Medal For International Cooperation Ministry of Foreign Affairs . ( Russia)
* Medal for merits in the Fight Against International Terrorism. ( Russia)
* Medal For International Cooperation the Ministry of Defense ( Russia)
* General Kvinitadze Medal. ( Georgia)

### Awards
#### Foreign awards

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

### Gallery

* La batalla de Rocroi (2011).
* El milagro de Empel (2015).
* General Jackson (2011)
* For Spain and for the King, Galvez in America (2016)
* La conquista del Colorado
* La Marcha de Galvez.