Ovidio Murguía de Castro

OVIDIO MURGUÍA DE CASTRO (Lestrove, A Coruña, 1871 - A Coruña, 1900).
"Male portrait".
Charcoal on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 52 x 40 cm; 59 x 47 cm (frame).
Son of the writers Rosalía de Castro and Manuel Murguía, he began to paint in Santiago de Compostela, in the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, where he had José María Fenollera as his teacher. During these years, Murguía was linked to the intellectual nucleus of La Coruña, a city where he exhibited his works with some assiduity. His move to Madrid in 1895 marked a turning point in his career, determined by his visits to the Prado Museum. In the capital he met his future protector, Eugenio Montero Ríos, who commissioned him to decorate the Lourizán Palace in Pontevedra. This would be the high point of his career, sadly cut short when he died of tuberculosis in 1900. A representative of the so-called Painful Generation, his role as a landscape painter was especially important when, moving away from academicism, he began to paint from life, developing a style that fused naturalism with romantic spirituality. He is represented in the museums of Galicia, especially in those of Pontevedra and La Coruña, as well as in many private collections.