Olga Sacharoff

OLGA SACHAROFF (Tiflis, Georgia, 1889 - Barcelona, 1967).
"Vase".
Oil on canvas.
Presents on the back label of the Parés room, and certificate issued by Barrachina & Ramoneda.
Measurements: 81 x 65 cm; 101 x 83 cm (frame).

This delicate vase condenses Olga Sacharoff's singular poetics of color, intimacy and domestic harmony.

The vase hosts a group of diverse flowers, arranged with spontaneity and natural rhythm: bluebells, roses in coral shades, white daisies, marshmallows in violet tones.... Each species is distinguished by its loose but precise outline, with contours modulated by the light.

The glass of the vase is treated with an ethereal transparency. The table, of a nuanced blue, shares the same chromatic temperature with the wall in the background, generating a continuity between object and space. This resource turns the still life into a field of color, rather than a mere realistic representation.

The painting shows the most refined features of the mature style of Olga Sacharoff, an artist of Georgian origin based in Catalonia, a key figure of the first Spanish avant-garde: the painting is built from color, not from drawing. The blues, mauves and pinks are intertwined by tonal affinity, creating a chromatic harmony of symbolist echoes.

After studying at the School of Fine Arts in Tiflis, Sacharoff moved to Munich in 1910, where he came into contact with German expressionism. The following year he moved to Paris, where his work was initially influenced by Cézanne, and later evolved towards synthetic cubism. At the outbreak of the First World War Sacharoff moved to Spain, where he settled in 1915, passing first through Mallorca to finally settle in Barcelona the following year. In fact, some historians point out that she was the introducer of cubism in Barcelona. From there she collaborated in Francis Picabia's magazine "391", considered the mouthpiece of Dadaism, which was published in Barcelona. He exhibited works in the Salons d'Automne in Paris in 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1928, obtaining important praise from the press and managing to organize, in 1929, a solo exhibition at the Parisian gallery Bernheim Jeune, one of the most important of the time. During these years she held an exhibition at the Layetanas Galleries in Barcelona (1934) and participated in the Montjuic Salon, of which she was appointed a member in 1935. When the Civil War broke out, Sacharoff returned to Paris, and in 1939 she exhibited at the Perls Gallery in New York. After the war he returned to Barcelona, and left behind the avant-garde to immerse himself in a naïve taste close to the Catalan noucentisme. His style adopted lyrical and amiable traits, and he put himself at the service of an idealized vision of Catalonia: landscapes, customs, popular types, etc. In general, compositions with multiple characters predominate at this time, depicted with schematic strokes and vivid colors. Chosen by Camón Aznar, he participates in the I Salón de los Once de Eugenio D'Ors (1943), held at the Biosca Gallery in Madrid. Two years later he organized a retrospective of his Parisian work, and in 1960 the General Directorate of Fine Arts dedicated an anthological exhibition to him. In 1964 he was awarded the Medal of the City of Barcelona. Sacharoff also illustrated books, with examples such as "La casa de Claudine" by Colette (1944) and "Netochka Nezvanova" by Dostoevsky (1949). Recently an anthology was dedicated to her in duo with María Blanchard in Bilbao (BBK Exhibition Hall, 2002). Olga Sacharoff is represented in the Mapfre Foundation in Madrid, the Reina Sofia National Center, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the Museum of Art Nouveau and Art Deco Casa Lis, the Marés Museum, the Pablo Gargallo Museum in Zaragoza and the Monastery of Montserrat, among many others.