Joan Brull

JOAN BRULL VINYOLES (Barcelona, 1863 - 1912).
"Lady of the Belle Epoque".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Damaged in the left margin and in the frame.
Measurements: 45 x 28 cm; 61 x 44,5 cm (frame).
Joan Brull trained at the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi in Barcelona, where he stood out as an outstanding student. Influenced by the realism of his teacher Simón Gómez Polo, he began his career with genre and historical themes such as "La tonsura del rey Wamba" ("The Tonsure of King Wamba"), exhibited at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1883. During these years he was also associated with the Modernist movement and the Symbolist aesthetic, influences that marked much of his production. He then went to Paris, where he completed his training with Rapahel Cöllin for five years. His style evolved in an increasingly personal direction, leaving realism behind in favour of a fin de siècle idealism. Nevertheless, he continued to be interested in history painting, genre scenes and portraits, achieving great mastery in the latter. On his return to Spain, he took part in numerous group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as abroad in London and Paris. He also took part in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions in Madrid, where he was decorated in 1892, 1895, 1897 and 1899. He was also distinguished at those held in Barcelona in 1894, 1896, 1898, 1907 and 1911. He was awarded the third medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 and was named Commander of the Order of Alfonso XII in 1904. He was also an art critic for the magazine "Joventut". Far from the rigour of academicism, Brull Vinyoles soon abandoned himself to the pictorial idealism to which he devoted all his work. A man of great culture, he took an active part in the gatherings at Els Quatre Gats. His technique of blurred contours, grisaille and pearly tones, as well as his subject matter populated by ethereal female figures, allow us to situate his work within the realm of Romantic symbolism. After his premature death, the Sala Parés in Barcelona devoted a tribute exhibition to him (1913). Brull is represented in the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the Museo de La Garrotxa in Girona, and the Museo de Art Nouveau y Art Déco Casa Lis in Salamanca.