Ismael González de la Serna

ISAMEL GONZÁLEZ DE LA SERNA (Guadix, Granada, 1898 - Paris, 1968).
"Vase with flowers", 1922.
Oil on panel.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 65 x 54 cm; 92 x 82 cm (frame).
The still life, one of the favorite themes of the pictorial renovation since Cézanne, becomes here a field of formal research. The ceramic vase, with its pronounced profile and floral ornamentation, articulates the composition with a solid volumetric presence. The flowers, white and yellow daisies, along with intense red and orange notes, unfold in a vibrant rhythm that contrasts with the dark background and deep-toned draperies. The brushstroke is loose, pasty and visible, underlining the materiality of oil on board, while the treatment of color reveals an expressive sensitivity: the hallmarks between light and shadow do not seek strict mimesis, but the plastic construction of the object.
Created in 1922, Vase with Flowers is part of one of the most fertile and experimental moments in Ismael González de la Serna's career, when the young artist, already linked to Spanish avant-garde circles, began to assimilate in a personal way the lessons of Post-Impressionism and Cubism in dialogue with the Parisian artistic environment. The work reflects the aesthetic crossroads of the 1920s, marked by the so-called "return to order" after World War I, but also by the persistence of modern languages that transformed traditional genres.
At this stage, González de la Serna participates in the renovating sensibility shared by many Spanish artists active between Madrid and Paris, integrating echoes of French modernity without renouncing a certain lyrical density. The composition shows a structure inherited from synthetic cubism in the simplification of planes and in the firm delimitation of contours, but at the same time maintains a chromatic warmth and a gestural spontaneity that distance it from any analytical rigidity.
Ismael González de la Serna was trained in Granada and at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid. In his beginnings he developed an eclectic style, with impressionist, symbolist and modernist influences, as shown in the illustrations made for Impresiones y paisajes (1918) by Federico García Lorca. That same year he held his first exhibition in Granada and shortly after he exhibited at the Ateneo de Madrid.
In 1921 he moved to Paris, where he joined the School of Paris and became friends with Pablo Picasso, a key figure in his international projection. During the twenties his painting assimilated cubism and expressionism in a personal way, without abandoning the impressionist imprint. His recognition was consolidated in 1927, after exhibiting at Paul Guillaume's gallery, and expanded with exhibitions in several European cities and Mexico. In 1928 he illustrated an edition of Góngora's sonnets commissioned by Christian Zervos. After 1932 he evolved towards more schematic formulas that, after World War II, approached solutions close to abstraction.