Álvaro Alcalá and Vidósola

ÁLVARO ALCALÁ GALIANO Y VIDÓSOLA (Bilbao, 1873- Paracuellos de Jarama, 1936).
"Cliffs".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 62 x 52 cm; 74 x 63 cm (frame).
Recognized for his costumbrista paintings, Alcalá Galiano also cultivated other artistic genres throughout his artistic career. In this particular case, a landscape can be appreciated through a view of the cliffs and the sea. In the foreground, the waves break against several rocks, but in the rest of the scene the sea remains calm. The artist lets us glimpse his knowledge of light painting, inherited from his master Sorolla, thus denoting in the scene a specific moment of the day, which is defined through the oranges used in the sky. The use of the contrast between the coldness of the blue and the orange tonality was common in Alcalá Galiano's conception of the landscape, in fact, a clear example of this can be seen in the work that currently belongs to the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid called "La senda" (The path).
Álvaro Alcalá Galiano was an artistic painter and decorator from an aristocratic family, thanks to which he held several titles during his lifetime (Count of the Royal Appreciation, Steward of Alfonso XIII's Week, etc.), who began his artistic training with Antonio Lecuona and Adolfo Guiard. He then moved to Madrid, where he studied first with Jiménez Aranda and then in the workshop of Joaquín Sorolla, where he excelled. In 1902 he extended his training with a trip to Brittany, Holland and Germany. He obtained several recognitions in some National Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Spain (First Medal in 1902, Second Medal in 1901 and Third Medal in the editions of 1897 and 1899), a Third Medal in the Paris Salon of 1910, a Second in the Universal of Buenos Aires of Argentina in 1910 and a Great Prize of Honor in the International Exhibition of Panama that was celebrated in the year 1916.
He worked, above all, the theme of genre or genre scenes, and is considered one of the main representatives of landscape and mural painting of the first half of the twentieth century. He was also President of the Association of Spanish Painters and Sculptors and organized several exhibitions in Bilbao and San Sebastian, and his paintings are currently kept in several private collections, as well as in some institutions such as the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Fine Arts Museum of Bilbao, etc.