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Although Iturrino produced his oeuvre, limited almost entirely to landscapes, portraits, groups of women, paintings of animals and nudes, in post-Impressionist vein, his treatment of light and colour bears some relation to Fauvist practices.

One of the most original aspects of Iturrino's work is his portrayal of the female body, dressed or nude, at rest or on the move. In Nudes (Women Dancing in a Ring) the models, seen outdoors in a luminous setting stripped of all the traditional laws of perspective, take up virtually the entire painting. Space is constructed from the position of some rotund, highly profiled bodies modelled in shades charged with colour.

A painter and an engraver, Iturrino trained in Brussels and Paris, where he came into contact with Symbolism and Impressionism and for some time was close to the aesthetics of the so-called Black Spain. He obtained recognition quite early in France, where he would exhibit regularly until 1911, year in which he showed his work in a hall on his own at the Salon d'Automne. His encounter with the landscape and the light of Andalusia, which he visited for the first time in 1901, proved determinant for the consolidation of his more personal style. His friends included a number of artists, among them Renoir, Derain, Picasso and above all Matisse, with whom he travelled throughout the south of Spain in 1910 and in Morocco in 1912. Indeed, Matisse's influence can be traced in most of Iturrino's mature works, as well as that of Cézanne's. (Miriam Alzuri)

Selected bibliography

• Castañer López, Xesqui. "Iconografía de la mujer en los pintores vascos, siglos XIX y XX", Kobie : bellas artes, n° 2. 1984. p. 107.
• Pintura española del siglo XX [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, 1978.
• Bengoechea, Javier de. Catálogo de arte moderno y contemporáneo del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, 1980. p. 69. (Con el título Desnudos).
• Barañano, Kosme María de ; González de Durana, Javier. Francisco Iturrinoren grafizko artelaren bilduma-liburua = Catálogo de la obra gráfica de Francisco Iturrino. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Eusko Jaurlaritza = Gobierno Vasco, 1988. p. 23, il.
• Nosotros los vascos : arte IV : del neoclasicismo a las tendencias modernas del arte. Donostia-San Sebastián, Lur, 1989. p. 190.
• La pintura del siglo XX en Cantabria : tradición y vanguardia [Cat. exp.]. Santander, Museo de Bellas Artes, 1991. p. 44
• Joos, Petra. Francisco Iturrino, 1864-1924 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 1996. pp. 182-183.
• Joos, Petra. Francisco Iturrino, 1864-1924 [Cat. exp.]. Donostia-San Sebastián, Fondación Social y Cultural Kutxa, 1996. p. 65.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 124-125.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 124-125.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 124-125.
• Manterola Ispizua, Ismael. Hermes y los pintores vascos de su tiempo. Bilbao, Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia = Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, 2006. pp. 224-225
• Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 46-48.
• Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. pp. 46, 48.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. pp. 124-125, n° cat. 85b.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. pp. 124-125, n° cat. 85b.
• Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. pp. 46-47, n° cat. 21c.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 124-125.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 124-125.
• La furia del color : Francisco Iturrrino, 1864-1924 [Cat. exp.]. Málaga, Fundación Palacio Villalón, 2018. pp. 32, 164-165, n° cat. 55.