Mel Ramos

Born on July 24, 1935

in Sacramento, California, the son of Portuguese immigrants

Alongside Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist, he is one of the most important exponents of pop art

1955

Married his wife Leta

Since 1922

Mel Ramos has been living and working alternately in Oakland, California and Horta de San Joan, Spain

From 1954

Studied art and art history at Sacramento Junior und State College: his teacher Wayne Thiebaud exerted a lasting influence

From 1961

Comics and superheroes become the basis of his pop art

From 1963

Pin-ups, advertising clichés and female sexuality dominate his works and make him famous

1964

First solo exhibition at the Bianchini Gallery, New York; becomes established as one of the main exponents of pop art

1966-1997

Lecturer at California State University in Hayward

1967

Exhibition in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

This is followed by hundreds of other exhibitions in major galleries and museums in the USA and Europe

From 2000

Mel Ramos and Rupert Schroeder begin their successful collaboration

Further groups of works are created over the following decades, e.g. fashion paintings, animal paintings, tributes to art history with his "Unfinished paintings", pin-up girls added to nude paintings by famous colleagues, sculptures, landscapes and self-portraits

2010

Great retrospective museum exhibition in Europe to celebrate Ramos' 75th birthday

2012

Atilla Kirbas established contact to Mel Ramos during a signing of the Delicious in Color