Roberto Domingo Fallola

ROBERTO DOMINGO FALLOLA (Paris, 1883 - Madrid, 1956).
"Removing the boats".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 76 x 100 cm; 90 x 114 cm (frame).
Judging by the faint incision of the light in the scene, the author places us in a twilight moment in which a group of characters tie a group of oxen to their boats, with the intention that, as Roberto Domingo himself indicates in the title, they withdraw the boats, thus delivering the material fished that day. The masterly plastic exercise deployed by the artist is reflected in the use of a quick brushstroke, whose spontaneity and dynamism is evident in the swollen sails of the boats. All this is framed in a longing and melancholic atmosphere in which the author uses tonal ranges that veer between blues and grays, although the artist also dares to introduce reddish and violet tones in the characters located in the foreground.
Domingo began his artistic training in Paris with his father, the painter Francisco Domingo Marqués. There he also learned first-hand about French impressionism. In 1906 he moved to Madrid and entered the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, where he was a disciple of Antonio Muñoz Degraín. He took part in national and foreign exhibitions, obtaining the third medal in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1908, second in the edition of 1910 and first in 1915. In 1911 he had a solo exhibition in Rome, at the Fine Arts Pavilion. He also showed his work continuously in several Spanish and London galleries, such as Baillie and Tooth. A costumbrist painter, he specialized in bullfighting themes, which brought him great fame and prestige. His work is characterized by the expressiveness of the stain and the stroke, capturing the reality through a sensitivity that connects with the tradition of Goya, Lucas and Alenza. The spontaneity, fluidity and dynamism of his work is largely due to his ability to memorize reality in his retina and then transfer it to the painting with his own nuance, simplifying the lines and diluting the colors. This vibrant emotion was also appreciated by great international artists of the time, such as John Singer Sargent and Gerald Kelly, who were among his clients. Roberto Domingo is represented in the Prado Museum, the Fine Arts Museum of Granada, the Provincial Museum of Cadiz, the Municipal Museum of Madrid, the Bullfighting Museum of Las Ventas in Madrid, La Maestranza in Seville, Valencia and Viana de Cega (Valladolid), the Drawing Museum of Castillo de Larrés (Huesca) and the Havana and Hemingway Museums of Cuba, among many others.