Melchor Aracil Gallego (Alicante, 1906 – Alicante, 1966) was a Spanish painter and poster artist. He stood out for his participation in the Bonfires of San Juan as a builder of monuments and author of posters, as well as for his propaganda drawings in favor of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War.[1]​.

Born in Alicante in 1906, he obtained the title of Commercial Expert at the age of 17, but soon turned his life towards painting.[2] Self-taught, he traveled to Madrid to study the great masters and, after completing his military service in Gerona, he returned to his hometown, where he participated in the Scientific, Literary, Artistic and Cultural Athenaeum of Alicante.

Since 1931 he was involved in the Bonfires of San Juan, designing monuments and posters. Among his works are Nostra festa no pot muerte (1935), with which he won third prize in category A, and El barrio gitano de Alicante (1936), which won first prize in category B.[2]​ That same year he was the author of the official poster for the Hogueras de San Juan de Alicante,[1]​ which was reused again in 1987 when the poster contest was deserted.[2]​.

During the Spanish Civil War he made drawings and propaganda vignettes in favor of the Republican side, denouncing the bombings on Alicante and demanding air-raid shelters.[3] After the war he was briefly imprisoned and was prohibited from participating in the Bonfires, except for an exceptional collaboration in 1944 with Gastón Castelló, Emilio Varela and other artists, in the Be careful with our neighborhood! bonfire.[2] He was a fellow prisoner of the poet. and playwright Miguel Hernández.[4]​.

In 1951 he opened his first individual exhibition at the Alicante City Hall with 31 works. Later he exhibited in Elche and at the Caja de Ahorros del Sureste de España, with positive reviews.[3] He produced portraits (such as that of the poet Manuel Molina Rodríguez), Levantine landscapes – including the Peñón de Ifach – and seaside scenes.

At the end of the 1950s he moved to Barcelona, ​​but soon returned to Alicante due to financial difficulties. He died in 1966 at the Alicante Provincial Hospital.