Joaquim Mir

JOAQUIM MIR TRINXET (Barcelona, 1873 - 1940).
"The well of the farmhouse, Vilanova.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right margin. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 105 x 118 cm; 125 x 140 cm (frame).
Bibliography: Francesc Miralles "Joaquim Mir a Vilanova", reproduced. Ref. 140.
Exhibitions: "Joaquim Mir", Pamplona, Caja de Ahorros de Navarra, April-May 2000. "Joaquín Mir", Concello de Ferrol, July-August 2000. Reproduced in the catalog, page 47,

The painting captures a corner of a farmhouse in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a town where Mir settled in 1921 and where his style reached full maturity. The central motif is the well, surrounded by the exuberance of a Mediterranean garden. Mir is known for his "explosive" use of color. Here we see how he uses the evening light to bathe the yellow wall in the background, creating a vibrant contrast with the blue and violet shadows in the foreground.
The brushstroke is loose, material and almost abstract in some areas of the flowers (chrysanthemums and dahlias), demonstrating his ability to dissolve form in favor of the pure stain of color.
Joaquim Mir studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Jordi in Barcelona and in the workshop of the painter Luis Graner. He soon felt uncomfortable with the official teaching, anchored in a conception of realist painting, so in 1893 he founded with other colleagues the "Colla del Safrà", to investigate together in the pictorial initiatives of the end of the century. In 1896 they even participated as a group in the III Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries, to which Mir presented two works: "La huerta del rector" and "El vendedor de naranjas". Also, since 1897 he frequented the artistic environment of "Els Quatre Gats", which helped him to mature in the compositional study of landscapes with figures in different planes of depth. During these years he took part in the Fine Arts Exhibitions of Barcelona, in their editions of 1894, 1896 and 1898. Winner of a second medal at the Madrid Exhibition of 1899, that same year he moved to the capital in order to compete for a scholarship in Rome. When he was unsuccessful, he went with Santiago Rusiñol to Mallorca, on a trip that would be a definitive turning point in his career. Mir was dazzled by the Mallorcan landscape, which was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. From then on, the artist deployed a whole combination of impossible colors, the result of his personal interpretation of the majestic nature of the island. The brushstrokes became longer and became stains that almost made objects and spatial references disappear. In 1901 he exhibited the fruit of this first Mallorcan stage individually at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and again obtained a second medal at the National Exhibition. In 1907 he obtains the first medal at the International Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona. Since then, installed in Camp de Tarragona, he will not move from the landscape genre, but now the surrounding villages will be the protagonists of his painting. In 1917, when he was awarded the National Prize of Fine Arts, he received the definitive national recognition. In 1929 he won the first medal at the International Exhibition in Barcelona. The following year he won the medal of honor at the National Exhibition in Madrid, an award he had been pursuing since 1922. Although he was mainly a native painter, he had solo and group exhibitions in Washington, Paris, Pittsburg, New York, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Venice. Mir is today considered the most outstanding representative of Spanish post-impressionist landscape painting. His work is preserved in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, among many others.