Matías Palau Ferré

MATIES PALAU FERRÉ (Montblanc, Tarragona, 1924 - 2000).
"Woman with dove".
Oil on canvas.
Signed.
Measurements: 81 x 81 cm; 93 x 93 cm (frame).

Characteristic work of the artist's mature stage, defined by the stylization of the figure, the chromatic intensity and the expressive use of the brushstroke.

This painting is part of the most representative core of Josep Palau Ferré's work, and can be fairly safely placed between the late 1950s and the 1970s, a period in which the artist consolidated his most personal language.

Within his iconography, the female figure is a central motif, but here it appears enriched by the presence of the dove, a symbolic element that introduces a deeper reading than the mere decorative association with flowers: symbol of peace, purity or spirituality, in tune with the Mediterranean and Christian tradition. It is also an indirect reference to Picasso, but reinterpreted from a more lyrical and less political language.

Palau Ferré was a Catalan painter trained in Barcelona and Paris, where he came into contact with the historical avant-garde. Admirer of Matisse, Picasso and Rouault, he developed his own language, marked by intense color, formal simplification and a direct and emotional painting.

From the fifties onwards he achieved great popularity, both in Catalonia and in the international market. However, a legal conflict with a dealer, who wanted to appropriate his future production, led the artist to a radical gesture: he progressively abandoned commercial painting and even destroyed much of his own work, becoming an almost legendary figure.

Today Palau Ferré is considered a singular case of 20th century Spanish art, valued both for the aesthetic coherence of his work and for the expressive force of his compositions.