Josep Maria Vayreda Canadell

JOSEP MARIA VAYREDA CANADELL (Olot, Girona, 1932 – Girona, 2001).
“Houses.”
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 40 x 50 cm; 61.5 x 69.5 cm (frame).

Josep Maria Vayreda was born into a family with deep ties to the arts. His great-uncle Joaquim Vayreda was the founder of the Olot School of Landscape Painting, and his uncle Mariá Vayreda was a painter and writer. Despite his close ties to the Olot school, Vayreda Canadell never followed its aesthetic principles, but instead leaned toward a very personal brand of realism. He received his training at the School of Fine Arts in Olot, and even during his academic years he began a process of simplifying figurative elements. Later, he delved into the world of abstraction and Informalism, only to return to figurative art in 1958—not as a break from his earlier phase but as a synthesis: his figurative style is structured around an arrangement of geometric forms. In his paintings, he captured his personal vision of the world—from cities (ranging from Olot to New York) to terraces and café interiors… Landscapes, whether rural or urban, figures, and still lifes make up his thematic repertoire. His first exhibition took place at the Sala Jardí in Barcelona in 1958. That same year, he moved to Paris, where both his fame and his clientele grew. Notable among his early clients were Queen Paola of Belgium and actors such as Glenn Ford and Fred MacMurray. But the person responsible for his definitive international recognition was the American collector Jerome Soloman, who, in the early 1960s, purchased a large portion of his work and exhibited it in his home country. Vayreda exhibited his work in numerous European cities, such as London, The Hague, and Paris, as well as in American cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York. His work is featured in museums around the world, but it is especially appreciated in the United States.