Ignasi Mundó

IGNASI MUNDÓ (Barcelona, 1918 - 2012).
"El port en obres", 1990,
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner. Dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 115 x 147 cm; 128 x 159 cm (frame).
This painting by the Catalan artist Ignasi Mundó represents a dynamic urban scene of the port of Barcelona, captured during a period of urban transformation. With a lively and gestural pictorial language, Mundó conveys the bustle and vitality of the city in the process of modernization, without losing the human and everyday character that characterizes his work.
In the foreground we see a construction zone, with heavy machinery, trucks, workers and metallic structures, which refer to the collective effort and technical progress. The compositional dynamism is reinforced by the diagonal arrangement of the elements, which guides the eye towards the background of the composition, where the silhouette of the monument to Columbus, the profile of the port, and the slope of Montjuïc, bathed by a warm twilight that tinges the sky with pink and blue tones, can be clearly distinguished.
The treatment of color is typical of Mundó: broad, loose brushstrokes, a palette rich in chromatic hallmarks and a great sensitivity to capture the luminous atmosphere of the Mediterranean. The human figures, although barely sketched, bring scale and narrative sense to the scene, embodying the relationship between the city and its inhabitants.

Ignasi Mundó trained at the Escuela de La Lonja, with Joaquín Mir, Mariano Pidelaserra and Manolo Hugué. In 1945 he traveled to Paris on a scholarship, and later made several study trips to Belgium, Holland and Italy. In 1948 he returned to Barcelona, and since then he has exhibited regularly in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Rome, among other cities. He has won numerous awards, such as the Cézanne medal, the City of Terrassa, the Sant Jordi and the City of Barcelona.