Vortices of Light: Critical Commentary on Mannes

This is only a brief selection of the many reviews Totte has received across the world. We'll post more in the news sections.

Suomen Kuvalehti(30th July 1976): "Olivatpa Toten työt sitten enemmän suomalaisia taiespanjalaisia, yhdestä asiasta mielipiteet käyvät yksiin: hän on hyvä. Yhden Espanjan johtavan taidekriitikon mukaan Totte Mannes kuuluu Euroopan maalareiden valiojoukkoon ja on myös merkittävä nimiespanjalaisessa maalaustaiteessa. Paljon sanottu maassa, joka ontuottanut Picasson, Dalin, Mirón, Grisin, Tapiesin…" Regardless whether Totte's work is seen as Finnish or Spanish, all opinions unite about one thing: she is good. One leading Spanish art critic says that Totte Mannes is one of the select top painters in Europe, and also an important name in the Spanish art. This is not insignificant acclaim in a country which has produced Picasso, Dali, Miró, Gris, Tapies…"

Vasabladet (November 1979): "Totte Mannes motiv hitter man into i den synligaverkligheten. I stället är det betraktaren som genom associationer tilltidigare erfarenheter och upplevelser inläser en innebörd i bilderna.Genom bildernas psykologiska kraft påverkas och engageras betraktarensundermedvetna och omedvetba självsliv… Hon målar ingalätttillgängliga visioner, de är snarare irrationella och exklusiva." "Totte Mannes' images are not found in the visible reality. Instead, the content of her pictures must be read through associations to each spectator's earlier experiences and emotions. The psychological power of these images engages and affects the subconscious and unconscious in the viewer's mind… She does not paint easily accessible visions, but rather something irrational and exclusive."

El Pais (2nd March 1980): "La exposición consta de más de una treintena deobras realizadas al oleo sobre tabla con un planteamiento muy originaly de una calidad poco frecuente."

Adige (12th June 1986): "Vortici di luce rappresentano immagini dinamichi e vitali" "Vortices of Light turned into images of vitality and dynamism"

Antonio Morales, Correo del Arte (September 1990): "Porque no llegó, como otros artistas, a laabstracción directamente, sin el previo conociemento y ejercicio de lasformas, sino que la suya es la conclusión de una larga etapa que le hallevado a esta suppression total de elementos desde la práctica de unafiguración que, en algún momento fue, y sigue siéndolo, porque no sehas apartado de ella, del más esplendente hiperrealismo." "Unlike other artists, she did not immediately adopt abstract art without having first understood and experimented with figurative forms. Her work is a result of a long journey, which has taken her into the total suppression of elements as well as to use figurative elements depicted with a most resplendent hyper-realism"

El Mercurio de Valparaiso (11th October 1992): "Un verdad impresionan esos decididos brochazos, devariado cromatismo que crean, con destraza y fuerza, imágenes devariedas sugerencias, configurando un irrealismo mágico, que irradiatotal valorización. Hay un descarte de lo figurative, con gran poder desíntesis, para llegar a la abstracción en sus grandes espacios, dondecampean los tonos complementarios, con los precisos, necesarios,acentos cálidos." "Those determined brush strokes are truly impressive in their rich, varying colours, they create suggestive images with precision and force, and configure into a magical surrealism that radiantly defies definition. A great power of synthesis has replaced figurative, resulting in vast abstract spaces accentuated where different warm accents compete with each other, precise and necessary."

Antonio Maura (1994): "The paintings of Totte Mannes tell us about a journey through senses and passion, over the crying and laughing seas towards the far distance, where no conflict exist, towards a world of silent melancholy in ochre, red and yellow: towards a paradise where emotions surpass senses."

Helsingin Sanomat (20thSeptember 1997): "Totte Mannes on yksi mielenkiintoisimpia suomalaisianykymaalareita. Vuonna 1986 kriitikot valitsivat hänet Madridissapidettävien Arcon taidemessujen tuhansista taiteilijoistaparhaimmaksi..." Totte Mannes is one of the most interesting Finnish contemporary painters. In 1986 critics voted her the best artist of the thousands who exhibited in the Arco Art Fair in Madrid that year".

El Punto de las Artes (1-7 April 2005):" Totte Mannes revela en cada pincelada un ensueño poético cadencioso,lírico, capaz de transmitirnos serenidad precisamente gracias a laentidad de su discurso plástico."