Luis Graner Arrufí

LUIS GRANER ARRUFÍ (Barcelona, 1863- 1929).
Untitled.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 82 x 123 cm.
In this marine of Lluís Graner i Arrufí, his sensibility for the light and the color characteristic of the Catalan painting of the end of the XIX century is appreciated. Graner combines a naturalistic treatment with an atmospheric sense that conveys the serenity and rhythm of the seascape. The brushstroke, loose but controlled, reflects the movement of the sea and the dispersion of light on the surface,
Graner trained at the La Lonja School in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Benito Mercadé and Antonio Caba, and in 1886 he moved to Paris thanks to a scholarship from the Diputació de Barcelona. During his five years in the French capital he obtained two third medals in the Universal Exhibitions of Barcelona (1888) and Paris (1889). Settled again in Barcelona in 1891, he continued to participate in important international exhibitions, such as those of Berlin (1891), Munich (1892), Dusseldorf (1904). Also, he sent works to the National Fine Arts, obtaining third medal in 1895 and 1897, second in 1901 and decoration in 1904. He made several trips to the United States and Latin America, spending most of his time between New York, where he made his first individual exhibition in 1891, and California. In 1927 he returned to Barcelona shortly before his death. His paintings, of a realistic style in form, take as their theme the daily life of humble people, although he also cultivated landscape and portraiture. In his interior scenes he shows a profound influence of George Latour, learned in his Parisian years. Specializing in genre painting, he also cultivated landscape and portraiture. His work is present in the Prado Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Hispanic Society of New York and the Balaguer Museum of Vilanova i la Geltrú, among others, as well as in important Catalan private collections. In interiors illuminated by a minimal light, whether from a candle, a spark plug or a fire in the home, he places characters that he portrays with a naturalistic language inherited from tenebrism.