1939
Begins to work while studying high school at the Institute of Education of the Basin, recovering courses lost by the war.
1943
Finishes high school.
1946
Ends the studies of forestry engineer.
From 1946 to 1953 he held sheets of botany, at the request of the professors Luis and Gonzalo Ceballos, for the second edition of the monumental Forest Flora of Spain of Maximum Lagoon, which did not print. At the same time begins to make his first drawings and watercolors: copies, and portraits, still lifes and landscapes of the invention.
1947
It is intended for the Forest District of Teruel.
1950
Traveling for the first time to France and Italy. Subsequently, and especially because of their professional activities, have been numerous trips to Europe, America and Asia.
1951
First oil paintings, figurative.
1953
It is intended for the Forest District of Cuenca. For twenty years, between Teruel and Cuenca, and as an exercise of his job as forestry engineer is in constant contact and deeper with nature-forest, especially of pines and oaks.
1955
First solo exhibition in Cuenca, Room Aguirre, with works of figurative nature, and intervention of the artist in the exhibition space. Since then he has made more than sixty, highlighting the major retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in 1991.
Mill bronze in the Exhibition of la Mancha Arts of Valdepeñas.
He knows and he developed a friendship with Antonio Saura.
1956
The first exhibition in Madrid, Gallery, Messenger, oil paintings of figurative and first monotypes almost abstract.
Evolution towards abstraction texturalista, substituting the oil for the mixed technique with latex.
1957
First carpets and rugs, in collaboration with a former employee of the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid.
Travel to France, Italy, and islands of the Mediterranean.
1958
The critic Frederick B. Torralba invites you to exhibit at the institución Fernando el Católico, Zaragoza, and later at the Institute of Studies Turolenses.
1959
First exposure to non-figurative art in Madrid, galerie Buchholz.
First trip to Paris, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The barcelona critic Juan Eduardo Cirlot, interested in his works, he started an intense epistolary correspondence between the two, encouraging them to continue in their work.
Design and assembly, with original photographs, Flag of Cuenca, in the Fair Field.
Design interior architecture and furniture of the Gallery Library Machetti, in Cuenca.
1960
Solo exhibition and monograph of photographs, made in 1955, in the Gallery Machetti Basin.
1961
Important solo exhibition at the Gallery Biosca of Madrid, which has “27 variations on two textures-structures”, the start of the well-known series of paintings divided into two zones.
First collage, with which to start a fruitful and original side of his work.
Participates in the VI Biennial of Sao Paulo.
He knows and he developed a friendship with Carmen Laffón, Jordi Teixidor and José María Yturralde.
1962
He exhibited at the XXXII Venice Biennale, continuing its participation in numerous group exhibitions in spain and abroad.
The Tate Gallery acquired one of his works.
In Venice knows Lucio Fontana, who was interested in their work, and befriends with Fernando Zóbel, Gerardo Rueda, Eusebio Sempere, Manuel Hernández Mompó.
Encourages Fernando Zóbel to found a museum, and begins the work for the design and mounting of the future Museum of Spanish Abstract Art of Cuenca.
Juan Eduardo Cirlot, devoting a monograph: The paintings of Gustavo Torner.
1963
The first retrospective exhibition in the Hall of the Directorate-General for Fine Arts (National Library) in Madrid.
1964
He knows and he developed a friendship with José Guerrero.
First trip to New York with Fernando Zóbel.
First printing.
1965
Quit your job as an engineer to devote himself exclusively to the creation of plastic, although he has made many other artistic activities requested by various institutions.
First folder of prints on texts of Heraclitus, translated directly from the Greek by Henry R. Paniagua.
1966
Opening of the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art of Cuenca.
It starts in the sculpture, combining works of small format with monumental, as the “Memorial of the VI World Congress Forestry” (5,40 x 8 x 35 m) in the Sierra of the Canyons in the Basin. Since then, he has made thirty monumental sculptures are spread throughout the Spanish geography.
Design of the exhibition “hunting and fishing” in the VI World Congress of Forestry.
1967
Receive the Commendation of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
1969
Begins collaboration with theater director Miguel Narros in the book “punishment without revenge, Lope de Vega, he doesn't get to debut.
1970
Three-month trip to Rome, the Far East and north America in the company of Fernando Zóbel.
1971
Design of an underground museum, with 160 walls sliding, to a private collector, in Somosaguas, Madrid, spain.
1973
He begins his collaboration as an artistic advisor of the Juan March Foundation with the design of the travelling exhibition “Art 73”, performing since 1975, the choice of the topics and of the works and the assembly of all of its exhibits in its madrid headquarters until 2002.
1974
The first retrospective exhibition of graphic works in the Gallery Turner of Madrid, on the initiative of Manuel Romero.
1975
Anthological exhibition in the Gallery Crowd of Madrid.
1976
First trip to Egypt.
Project of the multicoloured façades of the urbanization Los Olivos, and about 8,000 linear meters of facade, in Mejorada del Campo, near Madrid, in collaboration with the architects Alejandro Blond and José A. Rodríguez de la Cruz.
1977
Conference “The Museum of Spanish Abstract Art” in the Convent of Santo Domingo, Santiago de Compostela.
Collaborates in the study team to the General Plan of Urban planning of the city of Cuenca.
1978
Premiere in Paris of the work “Torner” for the harpsichord and a trio of string, the composer Tomás Marco.
Collaborates in the design of the expansion of the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca.
1979
Interview with Paloma Chamorro for the program Strokes of Spanish Television.
As the artistic consultant of the Juan March Foundation design of the travelling exhibition “Goya: the Caprichos – Disaster – Bullfighting – Nonsense”.
1980
Round, open-art on Gustavo Torner, presented by Juan Manuel Bonet, in the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid.
First Prize in the Competition I outdoor Sculpture of the city of Madrid.
Scenery and costumes for the world premiere of the opera “The poet”, a book of J. Méndez Herrera and music by F. Moreno Torroba, with Plácido Domingo as the first interpreter and direction of Rafael Pérez Sierra, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
1981
Study of colors for the Management of Facades of the Salamanca District in Madrid.
Scenery and costumes for “El retablo de Maese Pedro”, with music of Failure on the texts of Cervantes, also with the direction of Rafael Pérez Sierra, at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid.
1982
Begins collaboration with the team of architects at the Museum of the Prado in the restructuring of the new rooms of “Flemish Paintings of the SEVENTEENTH Century” and room “Roundabout Ariadna”, dealing with the period 1983 to 1999 rooms of “Goya”, “Velazquez”, “Murillo”, “Treasure of the Dauphin”, “European art of the EIGHTEENTH Century”, “Flemish and Dutch Painting of the SEVENTEENTH Century”, “Goya: Cartons, Portraits, and Cute”, and remodeling of the rest of the rooms of the Prado Museum in the building of Juan de Villanueva.
He begins his contribution to the creation of the new image of the firm Loewe with the design of your store in Trump Tower, on fifth Avenue, New York, and responsibility between 1983 and 1994 in the design of its stores in Las Palmas, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Madrid, Granada, Valencia, Paris and Bilbao.
Set design for “The mallard”, by H. Ibsen, direction of José Luis Alonso, for the National Theatre María Guerrero, Madrid.
Scenery and costumes for “The top hat”, the text of Vital Aza and direction of José María Morera, for the Teatro Bellas Artes in Madrid.
1983
Design and mounting of the Diocesan Museum of the Cathedral of Cuenca.
Garden design Sculpture in the madrid headquarters of the Fundación Juan March.
Scenery and costumes for “dollhouse”, by H. Ibsen, direction of José María Morera, for the Teatro Bellas Artes in Madrid, and for the zarzuela “Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente”, direction of Rafael Pérez Sierra, to the Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid in the I International Congress of Zarzuela.
1984
Gold medal of the City of Cuenca.
1986
Monument “To the Constitution” (11,30 x 10,30 x 7,60 m), in the Square of Mangana, Basin.
Workshop of contemporary Art at the Fine Arts Circle of Madrid.
Lecture at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, on the theme “Reflections of an artist today on the art and culture”.
Design Galería Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid.
1987
Gold medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, delivered by S. M. the King.
1989
Begins the design of the Stained glass windows for the Chapel (XII Century) in the Cathedral of Cuenca, as well as the Gable South (XV Century), which are executed in 1993.
Premio Fundación Pablo Iglesias.
1990
Conference “Meditations on the quality”, for the Association of Friends of the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Design, selection, and assembly, in collaboration with the architect Antoni Juncosa, the “Col·lecció March – 'art Espanyol Contemporani”, in Palma de Mallorca, taking care also of its expansion in 1996 with the name of the “Museu d'art Espanyol Contemporani – Fundación Juan March” and its subsequent expansion in 2003.
1991
Installation of stained glass windows designed for the apse of the Cathedral of Cuenca.
Large retrospective exhibition at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Inaugural lecture of the 1991-92 of the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Cuenca, with a lecture on the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art.
1992
Elected academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid.
Selected to participate in the Flag of Castilla-La Mancha and in the exhibition “Passages. Present of Spanish Art”, in the Spanish Pavilion of the world Fair, 1992, in Seville.
Begins collaboration with the architect Antonio Turret for the design of the Centro José Guerrero, Granada.
1993
Gold medal of the Community of Castilla-La Mancha.
Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando after reading his speech on the topic “The art, the victim of its theories and its history”.
Participate in the discussion “Great national museums: Prado and Reina Sofia. A rigorous debate around the politics of museums” organized by the Debate Club of the University Complutense of Madrid in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Conference at the Louvre Museum on the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca.
1994
Lecture in the cycle “Basin and musical creation, religious in Spain,” the Meeting of Musicology held in Cuenca, coinciding with the thirty-third Week of Religious Music.
1996
The editorial Pre-textos published Writings and conversations, a selection of texts by the artist.
Scenery and costumes for the opera “Selene”, Tomás Marco, and “La vida breve” by Manuel de Falla, direction of José Carlos Plaza, for the National Theatre of la Zarzuela in Madrid.
1997
Participates with the conference “the paintings in The Prado Museum” in the course “Lessons on the” Museo del Prado " organized by the Fundación Juan March in Madrid.
Conference, along with Tomás Marco, “How to listen to contemporary painting” of the II Cycle of Conferences and Concerts organized by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, the Fundación Loewe, and the Association Promúsica, in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza collection of Madrid.
Participates in the round table “The role as a protagonist” (in memory of Fernando Zóbel), in the II National Congress on History of paper in Spain, held in Cuenca.
1998
Set design for “The star of Seville”, by Lope de Vega, address, Miguel Narros, for the National Classical Theatre Company.
1999
You receive the “Award of the disclosure of the decoration in the art”, one of the National Awards of Decoration “Cristina Rodríguez-Salmon” awarded by the magazine New Style.
Second and third retrospective exhibition of graphic work in the Foundation Contemporary Spanish Engraving Museum in Marbella (Málaga) and Galería Estiarte, Madrid.
2000
Design of the magna exhibition “Carolus”, in the fifth centenary of the birth of emperor Charles V, inaugurated by seventeen Heads of State, in the Museum of Santa Cruz, Toledo.
2001
Grand Cross of the Order of Isabel the Catholic.
2002
Medal “Basin-Heritage of Humanity”.
Doctor “Honoris Causa” by the University of Castilla-La Mancha.
Design, selection and installation of the new Rooms of the TWENTIETH Century from the Museum of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
2003
Honorary academic of the Royal Academy Cuenca of Arts and Letters.
Donation of about six hundred works to the Spanish people, deposited in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.
2004
Creation of the Foundation Torner.
Conference at the Royal Academy Cuenca of Arts and Letters.
2005
Corresponding academic of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias de Granada.
Design, selection and assembly of the Space Torner, in Cuenca, inaugurated by the Minister of Culture Ms.. Carmen Calvo.
2006
Prize of Plastic Arts of the Second Edition of the Awards of the Arts and of the Science of Castilian-Manchego of the World.
Special mention of the Europa Nostra Awards 2006 at the Espacio Torner – Church of St. Paul.
2007
Conference “science: the gaze of an artist” in the Institute of Spain, in Madrid.
Colloquium “A conversation with Gustavo Torner,” within the course “the trembling of The time. The artists and his final work,” directed by Francisco Calvo Serraller, in the Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente, Segovia.
2008
“Torner. 50 years of thought-plastic”, a cycle of conferences about his work by Juan Manuel Bonet, Arthur Sagastibelza and Fuencisla Zomeño, at the Centro Cultural Caja Granada, Puerta Real, Granada.
Receives the award as “Cuenca of the Year” award by the Rotary Club of Cuenca.
Participates in the Conference Ingráfica of the First International Festival of Recorded Contemporary Basin.
2009
Participates with the work “Appearance” in the “Object / No object”, artistic interventions in the windows of The English Court of Madrid Building (Street price), within the Arco Fair 2009.
Involved in the round table “Portrait and the memory of Fernando Zóbel” held on the occasion of the XXV anniversary of his death, at the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art of Cuenca.
2010
Received the Culture Prize of the Community of Madrid in 2010 in the category of fine Arts.
2015
World premiere at the Cuenca Cathedral of the work of Joan Magrané “Tu solus qui facis mirabilia”, dedicated to Gustavo Torner, in charge of the vocal group Kea under the direction of Enrique Azurza, custom Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca.
2016
Re-opening of the Space, Torner, temporarily closed in 2011.
I Cycle of lectures on the work of Gustavo Torner, organized by the Association of Basin Abstract 2016, held at the International University Menéndez Pelayo and the Cathedral of Cuenca, between November 15 and December 21, by Vicente Jarque, Alfonso de la Torre, Francisco José Cerceda Cañizares, Lucio Rodríguez Méndez, María del Carmen Pérez García, José Ramón Alcalá Mellado, Maria Fraile Yoke, Maria Lara Martinez Laura Lara Martínez and Francisco Noguera Campillo.
He received the National Prize for Graphic Art 2016, granted by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports.
2017
Award AECA the author of the Best Work, or Set presented by a Spanish artist live, awarded by the Spanish Association of Art Critics for the work exhibited at the booth of the Gallery Fernández-Braso at the International Contemporary Art Fair Arco 2017.
Prize, Golden Cup, the first edition of the awards City of Cuenca, Gustavo Torner and Space Torner, awarded by the City of Cuenca.
He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
Fourth exhibition dedicated to his graphic work, in the Calcografía Nacional of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, on the occasion of the National Prize for Graphic Art 2016.
2018
Recital at the House Zavala Basin “Music in Zavala. Tribute to Gustavo Torner”, by Josep Maria Saperas, with works for recorder and electroacoustic works of the FOURTEENTH century, Satoh, Stravinsky, free Download, Van Eych, Boismortier, Linde and Saperas.
