Carles Nadal

CARLES NADAL FARRERAS (Paris, 1917 - Sitges, Barcelona, 1998).
"Promenade".
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 65 x 90 cm; 89,5 x 114 cm (frame).

Nadal's works offer a version of the world from a naïf perspective, in which the joy of living is optimized. It is a pictorial space conceived and dedicated to leisure, where the characters develop freely, immersed in an open landscape, in contact with nature. The chromatic range supports these concepts, as the author uses a palette of bright shades, where yellow becomes the undisputed protagonist. Nadal's paintings have always been linked to the artistic production of the Fauvists, especially Dufy, whose work exerted a great influence in the 80s.

The son of Santiago Nadal, a painter and decorator based in Paris, Carles Nadal has lived in Barcelona since childhood, where the family moved due to his father's illness. At the age of thirteen he began to work as an apprentice in a decorative painting workshop, and in 1936 he received a scholarship from the City Council of Barcelona to study at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was recruited into the Republican army, with which he fought on the fronts of Aragon and Tremp. After being arrested, he returns to Barcelona under liberty, and there he continues his artistic career while simultaneously working as a decorator and studying Fine Arts. In 1941 he makes his debut in a collective exhibition at the Dalmau Gallery, obtaining good reviews. He finishes his studies and exhibits individually for the first time in 1944, at the Pinacoteca Gallery in Barcelona. Two years later he moves to Paris, again with a scholarship from the Barcelona City Council. There he works and exhibits with the group Présence de l'Homme, as well as participating in the Salons d'Automne. Later, thanks to a scholarship from the French State, he attends the Paris School of Fine Arts. In 1948 he married Flore Joris, establishing his residence in Brussels, where he remained until the mid-seventies. In Belgium he discovered, as he himself repeatedly stated, light and color. During these years he will continue to show his work in Spain and Belgium as well as in France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nadal's painting is post-impressionist, intensely colorful, and is based on the search for chromatic force as the most direct means of communication. His awards include the Grand Prix de Spa, Belgium, and his appointment as a member of the Royal Academy of London. His works can be found in the MACBA, the Spa Museum in Belgium and the Royal Museum of Brussels.