Francesc Gimeno

FRANCESC GIMENO I ARASA (Tortosa, Tarragona, 1858 – Barcelona, 1927).
“Garden with Figures,” 1900.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 40 x 58 cm; 52 x 70 cm (frame).
Gimeno’s scenes depict raw reality, without aesthetic concessions, and reveal an extraordinary painter and draftsman. His landscapes are characterized by a direct and transgressive realism; he stood out above all for his expressiveness, which took precedence over all other artistic qualities. These are austere works, albeit with a vivid brushstroke, executed with an energetic touch and an unparalleled use of color. Gimeno always considered himself a laborer; he never hid his working-class background, and neither his persona nor his work fit into the bourgeois circles and artistic circles of the time.
A painter and draftsman, Francesc Gimeno began his training in Tortosa at the age of fourteen. In 1880, he settled in Barcelona and worked as a decorative painter. At this time, in the face of the undisputed triumph of Modernist painting, Gimeno not only kept his distance from the Catalan art scene but also insisted on following in the footsteps of the Golden Age painters. Thus, while Paris was the usual destination for painters, he traveled to Madrid in 1884. There he worked with Carlos de Haes, a master of realistic landscape painting, and devoted himself to studying the works in the Prado Museum, especially those by Velázquez. Upon his return to Barcelona in 1889, he abruptly turned down the commissions offered to him and returned to decorative painting. Gimeno remained almost entirely on the sidelines of the commercial art world. For most of his life, removed from official art circles, he painted what was closest to him—his family and himself—without ever neglecting landscape. He participated in a few exhibitions, winning awards such as honorary diplomas at the 1894 Barcelona exhibition and the 1904 National Exhibition in Madrid, but his works were frequently rejected by the juries. Critics and the public, accustomed to a different style of painting, also rejected his expressive realism, his proletarian subjects, and his strong, thick brushstrokes. Disillusioned, he became increasingly marginalized from the art world and society in general, and that open, passionate, and hopeful young man transformed into a withdrawn, disheveled, and self-marginalized man. Despite everything, Gimeno also had a small circle of admirers. The critic Romà Jori, the painter Ignasi Mallol, and the gallery owner Josep Dalmau organized the painter’s first solo exhibition in 1915. The exhibition was a critical success, and for the first time, his artistic work was recognized. This event marked the beginning of the artist’s final phase; he received some patronage that freed him from his work as a decorative painter, and from then on, he undertook various landscape painting projects. Recognition of Gimeno’s work grew in the final years of his life, culminating in the tribute dedicated to him at the Sala Parés during Christmas 1925. The MACBA dedicated an exhibition to him in 1978, and in 2006 the National Art Museum of Catalonia held the first truly anthological exhibition dedicated to his work. Gimeno’s work is represented in the Prado Museum, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Montserrat Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the Francisco Godía Foundation, and the J. Sala Collection, as well as in several significant private collections. The scenes Gimeno painted depict raw reality, without aesthetic concessions, and reveal an extraordinary painter and draftsman. His work, characterized by a direct and transgressive realism, stood out above all for its expressiveness, which takes precedence over all other artistic qualities. Gimeno always considered himself a laborer; he never hid his status as a worker, and neither his persona nor his work fit into bourgeois circles and social circles