Kiko Argüello

Kiko Argüello
Kiko Argüello at a Vocational Meeting
Born	(1939-01-09) January 9, 1939 (age 78) León, Castilla y León, Spain
Residence	Italy
Nationality	Spanish
Alma mater	Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Francisco José Gómez de Argüello y Wirtz (born January 9, 1939) is a Spanish artist and, together with Carmen Hernández, co-initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way. Argüello was born in León, he studied fine arts at the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid and in 1959 was awarded a Special National Prize for Painting. In 1964, he began the Neocatechumenal Way in the slum of Palomeras Altas in Madrid.

On May 13, 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Degree by the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The institute underlined "the strong commitment of the Neocatechumenal Way on family issues" by its emphasis on "the experience of the 'domestic celebration' with which it sends families on a mission." It also pointed out the value of the lay group's "promotion, together with other ecclesiastical organizations, of major initiatives in support of the family," especially the "Family Day in Italy and the 2007 Feast of the Holy Family in Madrid."

At the Royal Academy Argüello went through a profound existential crisis, of which he gives a vivid account in an interview. He wondered how it was possible "that we live in a world full of injustices when inside we have a desire for justice." Through his involvement with a theatre group, he "learned something of the philosophy of Sartre, (No Exit, The Flies, etc.), and in the end Sartre gives us an answer: that the world is absurd, everything is absurd, that we have a craving for justice and live in an unjust world because everything is absurd." Argüello tried to live "consciously, existentially" the "reality" of Sartrian atheism. He dedicated himself to art, won a National Prize and appeared on television, but to his surprise "it meant absolutely nothing" to him. "In the end I asked myself: but people, how can they live if I can't?... I'd get up and say: to live, for what? To paint. And why paint? To make money. What for, if nothing satisfies me? I knew that sooner or later I'd shoot myself, I'd kill myself."