Carme Cortès

CARME CORTÈS I LLADÓ (Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Barcelona, 1892–Mexico City, 1979).
"Fiesta mayor," 1941.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated.
Restored on the reverse.
Measurements: 42.5 x 53.5 cm; 53.5 x 64.5 cm (frame).

A scene of a popular festival by the sea, opening up into a sweeping coastal panorama. A village of whitewashed houses stands out against the bay, highlighting the luminous reflections on the water and the crowd gathered in the foreground. The artist organizes the space through a succession of gentle planes: the festive crowd, the trees, the beach, the hamlet, and the marine horizon, all bathed in a clear, Mediterranean light.

A work characterized by free, vibrant, and concise brushwork, capable of suggesting—with just a few strokes—the movement of the people, their costumes, the vegetation, and the reflections on the water. Cortès does not depict the festival in an anecdotal manner, but rather as an impression of color and atmosphere.

Dated 1941, the work takes on special significance within the artist’s career, which was marked by exile following the Civil War. That same year, Cortès arrived in Mexico after spending time in France, where she joined the community of Republican exiles and continued her artistic and teaching work. Viewed in this context, this *Fiesta mayor* can be interpreted as a luminous evocation of Mediterranean folk life—a pictorial memory of celebration, community, and landscape.

Carme Cortès i Lladó was a Catalan painter associated with the Impressionist movement, initially trained in music under Enrique Granados and Felip Pedrell and later at the School of Fine Arts directed by Francesc d’Assís Galí. After going into exile, she was highly active in Mexico, where she spearheaded the creation of the School of Plastic Arts at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. Her work is represented in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, which houses the painting *Rest*, acquired at the 1936 Barcelona Spring Exhibition.