Catalan art

[Comte Arnau]

Because Dalí wasn't the only worthy Catalan painter, I'll be introducing here to others who you probably know less.


Marià FORTUNY i Marsal (1838-1874)


Self-portrait

The leading Catalan painter of his day, with an international reputation. His brief career encompassed works on a variety of subjects common in the art of the period, including the Romantic fascination with Orientalist themes, historicist genre painting, military painting of Spanish colonial expansion, as well as a prescient loosening of brush-stroke and color.

Fortuny paintings are colorful, with a vivacious iridescent brushstroke that at times recalls the softness of Rococo painting but also anticipates impressionist brushwork. Fortuny's recollection of Morocco is not a costume ball, but a fierce, realistic portrait which includes bare-chested warriors. Richard Muther states:

his marvellously sensitive eye … discerned the stalls of Moorish carpet-sellers, with little figures swarming, and the rich display of woven stuffs of the East; the weary attitude of old Arabs sitting in the sun; the sombre, brooding faces of strange snake-charmers and magicians. This is no Parisian East…every one here speaks Arabic.

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A few of his pictures:

La vicaria (known in English as The Spanish Wedding)

It depicts the signing of a marriage contract, in which elements are introduced that reveal his wide-ranging culture and his fascination and admiration for Goya. In this fictitious architectural space Fortuny brings together elements from different places, but also gives an absolute unity and coherence. Notable for their visual quality are the screen, the lamp hanging from the ceiling, the painting, the bookcase with its huge parchment volumes, the coat of arms on the balcony and the brazier, a prop he included in a number of works to balance the composition. The central group stands out of the bride and groom, accompanied by a long line of witnesses, friends and family dressed in eighteenth-century garb and whose elegance contracts with a second group situated to the right of the composition, which represents the common people. Fortuny utilized his own family members as models.

L'odalisca (The Odalisque)



El venedor de tapissos (The Carpet Seller)



Battle of Wad Rass



Battle of Tetuan

[♥ Lily ♥]

My favourite Catalan artist is Victoria Francés.

"Victoria Francés was born in Valencia but spent much of her infancy in Galicia.

She attended the Polytechnic University of Valencia, where she studied Fine Arts at the Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos.
There she started working as an illustrator while also designing various book covers and other commissioned pieces.

Her first illustrated book, Favole, a remembrance of Verona, Venice and Genoa, was first released on 23 April 2003.
It was moderately successful, but she returned to the University to continue to study art.
She made her first public appearance at the Saló del Còmic fair in Barcelona on March 8, 2004. She toured Madrid and the U.S. the following year.

Soon after, Favole II and Favole III followed.
Her most recent published work is called El Corazón de Arlene (Arlene's heart) in 2008.

Victorias illustrations have also been featured on posters, calendars and jigsaw puzzles.

Influenced by gothic Romanticism and pre-Raphaelite paintings as well as by the works of Luis Royo and Gerald Brom."

(I love illustrations by Luis Royo and Gerald Brom too).

I've noticed many posters of Victoria Francés art and illustrations often displayed on the walls inside Gothic bars and venues,
as well as often being displayed in videos featuring Gothic music genres.

[Empecinado]

Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

[CENTER][I][COLOR="#800080"]My favourite Catalan artist is Victoria Francés.

"Victoria Francés was born in Valencia but spent much of her infancy in Galicia.

Wouldn't that make her Valencian? Unless her parents are Catalan.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Wouldn't that make her Valencian? Unless her parents are Catalan.

I thought Valencia was Catalonia as they speak Valencian which is a variant of Catalan.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

I thought Valencia was Catalonia as they speak Valencian which is a variant of Catalan.

This is like saying Cantabrians and Andalusians are Castilians. Valencians don't refer to themselves as Catalans.

[♥ Lily ♥]

This is like saying Cantabrians and Andalusians are Castilians. Valencians don't refer to themselves as Catalans.

Ho sento, my mistake as I wrongly thought that Valencia was a part of Catalonia.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Ho sento, my mistake as I wrongly thought that Valencia was a part of Catalonia.

I wasn't aware of this woman's artwork until now so it's all good, yo.

[♥ Lily ♥]

I wasn't aware of this woman's artwork until now so it's all good, yo.

Gracies. She's one of my favourite artists.

I very much love Salvador Dali's surrealism paintings and he was definitely a Catalan painter!