Francesc Gimeno

FRANCESC GIMENO I ARASA (Tortosa, Tarragona, 1858 - Barcelona, 1927).
"Port".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 22 x 27 cm; 48 x 52 cm (frame).

Francesc Gimeno was a painter and draftsman of singular character who, facing the rise of Catalan modernism, opted for a realistic training inspired by the masters of the Golden Age and the landscape painting of Carlos de Haes after his stay in Madrid in 1884. For most of his life he remained outside the official art market, working as a decorator painter and taking refuge in an intimate theme of self-portraits, family scenes and landscapes executed with a strong, thick brushstroke and an expressive realism that was initially repudiated by critics. His attitude of self-marginalization only began to be reversed in 1915, when his first individual exhibition at Josep Dalmau's gallery gave him a late recognition and the necessary patronage to devote himself fully to his final landscape campaigns. He died in 1927 after being honored in the Sala Parés, his work today occupies a place of honor in institutions such as the Prado Museum, the MNAC and the MACBA.