Joaquim Vayreda

JOAQUIM VAYREDA VILA (Girona, 1843 – Olot, Girona, 1894).
“Almond Trees in Bloom,” c. 1892.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 63 x 86 cm; 78 x 100 cm (frame).

Painted around 1892, the work reflects the profound influence of the Barbizon School and the plein air approach to landscape painting that Vayreda developed throughout his career. His brushwork is swift, rich, and impasto, lending great dynamism to the tree canopies and the foreground vegetation.
Notable is the nuanced, luminous atmosphere characteristic of the Catalan countryside, with skies featuring soft clouds and white and pink impasto strokes that bring the almond blossoms to life, with greens and ochres serving as hallmarks.

Joaquim Vayreda was one of the most prominent Catalan landscape painters of the 19th century. After his early studies in his hometown, he furthered his training in Barcelona under Martí Alsina and during stays in Paris. He founded the Olot Art Center, the hub of the so-called Olot School of Painting. His style and artistic vision were influenced by the Barbizon School in France, and his painting evolved toward an Impressionist approach. At the age of nine, he began his studies under Narcís Pascual, then director of the Olot School of Drawing. He moved to Barcelona around 1860 to study philosophy, and there he continued his artistic training in the studio of Ramón Martí Alsina. In 1865, he exhibited for the first time at the Barcelona Artists’ Society, and the following year he took part in an exhibition at the Parés Gallery. In 1869, he founded the Artistic-Cultural Center in Olot, which would become a hub of renewal and experimentation in opposition to official academicism. In 1871, he traveled to Paris for the first time and came into contact with the Barbizon School as well as the early Impressionists. The outbreak of the Carlist War led him to go into exile in France in 1872, where he remained for three years. Upon his return, he resumed the activities of the Artistic Center, and Olot became a magnet for Catalan painters, drawn by the paintings Vayreda exhibited at the Parés Gallery. Works by Joaquín Vayreda are preserved at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the MACBA in Barcelona, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Víctor Balaguer Museum in Barcelona, the Girona Art Museum, and the Abbey of Montserrat.