Logo

12 Facts About Xavier Valls

1.

Francesc Xavier Valls Subira was a Spanish painter who lived in Paris most of his life.

2.

Xavier Valls was the father of former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

3.

Xavier Valls was born on 18 September 1923 in Barcelona, Spain.

4.

Xavier Valls learned the visual arts from the Swiss sculptor Charles Collet and the Spanish painter Jaume Busquets in the 1930s.

5.

Xavier Valls then worked for architects Lluis Bonet Gari, Isidre Puig Boada and Francesc Folguera i Grassi as well as designer Santiago Marco.

6.

Xavier Valls moved to Paris in 1949 thanks to a scholarship from the French Institute of Barcelona, and decided to stay.

7.

Xavier Valls's work was exhibited in the art galleries of art dealers Henriette Gomes and Claude Bernard.

8.

Xavier Valls was the recipient of the Prix Drouant in 1980.

9.

Xavier Valls became an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1989.

10.

Four years later, in 1962, they had two children: a son, Manuel Xavier Valls, who has served as the Prime Minister of France since 2014, Although they lived in Paris, they summered in Barcelona every year.

11.

Xavier Valls died of colon cancer in Barcelona in 2006.

12.

Xavier Valls was only diagnosed one month before his death.