Last updated at 13:54h.Robert Harvey's friends auction portraits in memory of Don Roberto de Macharaviaya

Friday, 6 June 2025, 13:48

| Updated 13:54h.

Every year a disparate group of intellectuals, artists and Axarquía residents gather in Macharaviaya in Malaga province to pay respect to a man many of them never even met.

Robert Harvey died in 1994. The American painter, who was born and raised in North Carolina left behind a group that is, surprising, still growing. Don Roberto de Macharaviaya left behind a “human legacy”. He was known to the village for his ability to “make family”, which rivalled the importance of the undeniable artistic talent. It is only in this light that 61 artists accepted the invitation to an event held in his honor. This Saturday the Malaga-based artists’ impressive collaboration will auction off their self portraits, starting at 150 Euros.

Lorenzo Saval, Chema Lumbreras, Fernando de la Rosa, Vargas Machuca, Rafael Alvarado, Paco Aguilar, Isabel Garnelo, Sebastián Navas, Sara Sarabia, Ignacio del Río, Ana Roldán, Concha Galea, Panamá Díaz Fernández and many more accepted the challenge to paint themselves for the eighteenth Encuentro de Amigos de Robert (Friends of Robert Meeting) which will take place on 7 June in Macharaviaya (from 1pm with an entry fee of 20 euros all inclusive). Music, art, delicious food, and gin & tonic will all be available, just as they always were at Robert Harvey’s home. The Huerta del Ángel is a cosmopolitan estate in the middle of the countryside, where artists and friends from Malaga met with others from San Francisco and New York over paella and good wine.

Human Legacy is the title of the artistic project chosen by the Huerta del Ángel Association for this edition. After so many years you realize that the association is the people. It makes no sense without the people behind it supporting it,” said Jorge Moreno Peña, exhibition curator. He asked Robert’s “friends” to paint their own portraits in order to show this heritage. A daring request because not all artists do self-portraits and, as Moreno Peña pointed out, “empathising” with another person or a landscape is not the same as staring at yourself in the mirror. But the response was overwhelming.

At the Museo de los Gálvez, in Macharaviaya, the 61 portraits spanning all imaginable techniques and styles in the exhibition are currently being assembled. The story of Bernardo the hero of American Independence and his family is interwoven with a series paintings that show the faces of generations of Malaga painters. Each painting conceals its creator’s identity. There is the diptych of Teté Vargas Machuca: her face is only half visible, but when the covers are opened, her whole universe unfolds with the pop-up technique, the artist depicted in different positions and moments, working, pensive, with birds on her head. Lorenzo Saval creates amusing, small reproductions of himself using mixed techniques in his Autorretratos en Busca de un Autor.

Very recognisable, staring directly at the viewer from the same wall, are the faces of Sebastián Navas, Rafael Alvarado, Buly and Concha Galea, the latter with a powerful impressionist touch. Cayetano Romero is drawn amid a landscape of handwritten words, and Ana Roldán smiles at the visitor surrounded by vibrant colours.

Paco Aguilar appears in a work that isn’t his usual style of figurative art, but it could be one his strange characters. Chema Lumberas’ work is a surprise, as it does not feature his trademark figures. Instead, the main characters are a shadow and a giraffe. Fernando de la Rosa uses collage on canvas to create his self-portrait, composed of fine lines and thick strokes.

There is no shortage in a meeting between artists of the greats. Arturo Meliveo winks at Matisse, Lola Díaz presents herself in Warhol style and Víctor Sáez adopts the position of Velázquez in Las Meninas, with Robert Harvey in the doorway – as in the photo in which he appears in La Huerta del Ángel – and with Marilyn Monroe and Rossy de Palma infiltrating the work. Isabel Garnelo, a feminist who is committed to her femininity and feminist identity has included pubic hair as part of her work. Sara Sarabia, in Autocensura: Self-censorship, covers her face with text. Sandra Carmona uses a painting to tie herself to her own identity. Antonio Delgado retrieves an old photo from his boot and gives it a new meaning.

The exhibit is large and diverse, with each piece having its own unique story. On Saturday, the artists will present their works during the silent auction. The public can place bids on each piece of artwork until the deadline. Half of the proceeds will go to the artists, the other half to the Asociación La Huerta del Ángel – guardian of Robert Harvey’s memory. On the poster for the exhibition, hundreds of photos from 17 previous meetings are used to create the image of Don Roberto. The event will include a Polaroid Camera that will take up to a 200 photographs of the visitors. They will be added immediately to a new posters. Assuring Robert Harvey’s human legacy continues.