Manuel Villegas Brieva

MANUEL VILLLEGAS BRIEVA (Lérida, 1871 - Madrid, 1923)
"Nymphs".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
It has multiple punctures on the canvas.
Measurements: 80 x 100 cm; 97 x 115 x 6 cm (frame).

This work evidences Villegas Brieva's mood for a painting marked by a mixture of realism and symbolic idealism, with clear pre-Raphaelite influence. The pictorial treatment shows a loose and vibrant use of color, especially in the greens, blues and ochers of the forest and water, and a brushstroke that dissolves the contours in a diffuse, almost dreamlike atmosphere. The female figures are integrated into the landscape in a delicate, ethereal, almost floating way, accentuating the sensation of reverie. The whole denotes a search for the poetic, a realism tinged by the ideal, where nature and the figure merge into a chromatic and atmospheric whole.

Manuel Villegas Brieva was a Spanish painter trained at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, disciple of Francisco Pradilla. His painting encompassed the figure, portrait, landscape and historical or symbolic scene. He obtained public recognition when he won the second medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1892 for his work "¡A la guerra!", and years later he won the first medal in 1912 thanks to decorative panels with seasonal motifs. In his work beats a will to unite the realistic experience with an idealistic sensitivity, capable of transforming nature and the figure in visions full of emotion and evocation, a feature that makes "Nymphs" a good example of his personal language.