Gabriel Puig Roda

GABRIEL PUIG RODA, (Tírig, Castellón, 1865 - Vinaròs, Castellón, 1919).
"Paisano de Castellón".
Watercolor on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 19.50 x 12 cm, 38 x 31 cm (frame).
Gabriel Puig Roda carried out his artistic studies in the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos of Valencia, where he entered in 1879 thanks to a scholarship of the Deputation of Castellón. Again with a scholarship he went to Madrid to further his studies at the Escuela de San Fernando. There he obtained the pension to go to Rome in 1889, where he remained until 1892. In the Italian capital, in order to improve in the use of watercolor, he attended classes at the Academia Chigi and the Círculo Internacional de Bellas Artes, showing in his work of these years the influence of his Italian contemporaries. In 1890 he has already gained a certain international public, to whom his proxy sells panels and watercolors. His first Roman period came to an end at the end of his scholarship in 1892. He then travels to Pisa, Genoa, Milan, Padua, Venice and Bologna, places where he takes notes of landscapes and typical corners that serve him for his compositions. After a period in Spain he returns to Rome and paints "The Expulsion of the Moors", a painting that he sends in 1894 to the Diputación de Valencia. His works of this period fall into two main groups; firstly there are the themes of Fortuny influence that include genre and orientalist paintings. Secondly, there are the naturalistic themes, such as "El mendigo de la guitarra" and "La visita del corregidor" where Puig Roda, influenced by the literature of his time, crudely depicts genre scenes of the time. After a period in Barcelona, the painter finally settled in Vinaròs in 1905, where he specialized in watercolors with genre themes. An important collection of his works was donated by his children in 1975 to the Diputación de Castellón de la Plana, destined for the future Provincial Museum of Fine Arts. Currently an international watercolor competition is held in Vinaròs and bears his name.