Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Cala Sant Vicenç [Sant Vicenç Cove]

Image caption
JOAQUÍM MIR

Cala Sant Vicenç [Sant Vicenç Cove]

  • 1903
  • Oil on canvas
  • 81 x 100 cm
  • Cat. P_287
  • Acquired in 1982
  • Observations: According to Mercedes Palau-Ribes O'Callaghan it could be the Castell del Rei (Pollença). There is a similar landscape by Santiago Rusiñol.
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso, Carlos Martín

In Sant Vicenç Cove (1903), Joaquín Mir, one of the masters of modernist painting, employs a recognisable transparent technique that gives the work an almost immaterial appearance. The wild landscape is shown miraculously intact, unpolluted, transparent and luminous. It is a celebration of the coastal landscape, beloved of so many artists who came to paint the rugged coastline of Majorca, especially towards the end of the nineteenth century. Although he was painstaking in his depiction of atmosphere, what Mir sought to do in this work was to experiment with the composition of the painting on the surface, like a garland of watercolour planes surrounding the vivid blue of the sea with a high horizon, reminiscent of Paul Gauguin's great perspective-less backdrops of colour. The mottling of the clumps of herbs that punctuate the lower right of the picture is, in itself, enormously eloquent, reflecting Mir's ability to be at once precise, free and in a state of grace in his observation of the natural environment. Without losing the movement of the lines so typical of fin-de-siècle painting, Joaquín Mir was already moving towards the noucentisme that was to follow, discovering — in the best sense of the term — the Mediterranean.

 
By:
Julián Gállego Serrano, María José Alonso
Joaquím Mir
Barcelona 1873 - Barcelona 1940

Joaquím Mir came from a lower middle-class background. He studied at the La Lonja School of Fine Art alongside his close friend and fellow student Isidre Nonell, under the tutelage of Antonio Caba and went on to do plein air painting with Luis Graner from 1889. In 1894, his work Sun and Shade was shown at the Fine Arts Exhibition in Barcelona. Around that time, he painted with Isidre Nonell and Juli Villamitjana, with whom he shared a studio in the area around Barcelona. The trio became known as the 'Saffron Gang' due to the colours they used in their paintings. He was a regular at the gatherings in Els Quatre Gats, where he struck up a friendship with Pablo Picasso, who painted his portrait. In 1894 he tried to obtain a scholarship to study at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, but was rejected on this and other occasions. He painted in the environs of Madrid and frequented artists' gatherings in the city, interacting with Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, Ramiro de Maeztu and Pío Baroja. From 1900 to 1906 he lived in Majorca, where he painted with Santiago Rusiñol; and later in Vallés (1913-1919) and Caldas de Montbuy (1919-1922). He travelled around Catalonia, before finally settling in Villanueva i Geltrú. He participated in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, obtaining the Second Medal in 1899 and 1901. In 1915, his The Holm Oak and the Cow was acquired by the state. He won the First Medal at the national exhibitions of 1919 and 1929; and in 1930 was awarded the Medal of Honour. He exhibited regularly in Barcelona, at Sala Parés, Sala Reig and Galerías Layetanas. He was awarded the First Medal at the international exhibitions of Paris and Brussels (1912). In 1934 the Venice Biennale devoted a special room to him and the Sala Parés held a tribute exhibition on the occasion of the gallery's fiftieth anniversary.

 
«Masterpieces from the Banco de España Collection», Museo de Bellas Artes de Santander (Santander, 1993). «From Fortuny to Picasso: Thirty Years of Spanish Painting, 1874-1906», Museo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1994-1995). «From Fortuny to Picasso: Thirty Years of Spanish Painting, 1874-1906», Museo de Bellas Artes de Nancy (Nancy, 1995). «From Fortuny to Picasso: Thirty Years of Spanish Painting, 1874-1906», Museo Goya. Colección Ibercaja - Museo Camón Aznar (Zaragoza, 1995). «Joaquim Mir, A Life's Journey», Fundación ”La Caixa” (Palma, 1997-1998). «Catalan modernism. Enthusiasm», Fundación Santander Central Hispano (Madrid, 2000). «To the Beach: the sea as a theme of modernism in Spanish painting, 1870-1936», Fundación Mapfre (Madrid, 2000-2001). «Between Two Centuries. Spain 1900», Fundación Mapfre (Madrid, 2008-2009). «Between Two Centuries. Spain 1900», Paraninfo de la Universidad de Zaragoza (Zaragoza, 2009). «Rediscovering the Mediterranean», Fundación Mapfre (Madrid, 2018-2019).
Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez & Julián Gállego Banco de España. Colección de pintura, Madrid, Banco de España, 1985. Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, Julián Gállego & María José Alonso Colección de pintura del Banco de España, Madrid, Banco de España, 1988. Francisco Calvo Serraller Obras maestras de la Colección del Banco de España, Santander, Museo de Bellas Artes de Santander y Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, 1993. Vv.Aa. De Fortuny à Picasso: trente ans de peinture espagnole, 1874-1906 (cat. exp.), Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1994. Vv.Aa. Joaquim Mir, itinerari vital (cat. exp.), Barcelona, Caixa de Pensions, 1997. Vv.Aa. A la playa: el mar como tema de modernidad en la pintura española (cat. exp.), Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2000. Vv.Aa. Entre dos siglos. España 1900 (cat. exp.), Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2008. Vv.Aa. Redescubriendo el Mediterráneo, Madrid, Fundación Mapfre, 2018, p. 125.