Joaquín Terruella

JOAQUIN TERRUELLA MATILLA (Barcelona, 1891–1956).
"Boats on the Beach."
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 18 x 19.5 cm; 24 x 25.5 cm (frame).

A nephew and follower of Segundo Matilla, Joaquín Terruella was also a student of Santiago Rusiñol. He traveled to Italy with Rusiñol in 1923 and also spent some time working with him in Aranjuez. He also painted in Paris and Palma de Mallorca. He held his first solo exhibition at the now-defunct Sala Goya in Barcelona in 1916. From then on, he held a series of exhibitions in Barcelona, primarily at the Parés Gallery (beginning in 1924), and also showed his Impressionist landscapes in galleries in Paris (where he exhibited for the first time in 1922), Madrid, Palma, Zaragoza, Bordeaux, and Biarritz. Starting in 1928, he exhibited his work at the Gaspar Gallery in Barcelona, where he continued to exhibit until 1952. In 1956, he held his final exhibition at the Busquets Gallery, also in his hometown. Since then, his work has been featured in various group and retrospective exhibitions, such as the one held at the Gothsland Gallery in Barcelona in 1985. In 1993, Ángeles Cortina brought together a series of his oil paintings and drawings at her Barcelona gallery. Joaquín Terruella was primarily a landscape painter, following in the tradition of Impressionism, who depicted the Catalan landscape with delicacy and subtle transparency. Another of his favorite subjects was the world of bullfighting; in fact, he worked as a bullfighting illustrator for the publications *El Día Gráfico* and *La Noche*. He also depicted scenes of Gypsies and café-concerts. His works are held in the MACBA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, and the Provincial Museum of Lugo.