Alvar Suñol Munoz-Ramos was born in Montgat, a Cataluñan city near Barcelona, on January 29, 1935. He started painting at 12, and at 17, he was accepted into the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Jorge in Barcelona. At 18, Alvar entered a painting into a competition for the Young Painters Prize sponsored by the City of Barcelona. His painting won the grand prize and it is now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona. His first one-man exhibition in Barcelona was in 1957.
