Miquel Villà

MIQUEL VILLÀ I BASSOLS (Barcelona 1901-1988).
"Altea", 1976.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and located on the back.
With Sala Parés label on the back.
Measurements: 22 x 27 cm; 38 x 43 cm (frame).

Miquel Villà i Bassols was a Spanish painter, and one of the main representatives of Fauvism in Spain. At the age of 13 his father, a wine merchant, took him with him to Colombia (Bogota). There he attended the school of fine arts until 1918. In 1920 he discovers Paris, which will be his habitual residence until 1930. In Paris he attends the Colarossi Academy. He befriends Jean Fautrier, Marcel Duchamp, Togores, Pancho Cossío and the sculptor Pablo Gargallo, who will greatly influence his artistic career. His main influences were Cezanne and, at the beginning of his artistic career, Maurice de Vlaminck. He receives notorious influences from the last period of Rembrandt. From 1930 he lived mainly in Catalonia: Barcelona, Masnou, Puebla de Segur, and spent some time in Ibiza. In 1985 he was distinguished by the Generalitat de Catalunya with the Cross of Sant Jordi.