Joan Roig Soler

JOAN ROIG SOLER (Barcelona, 1852–1909).
“Port of Barcelona”.
Oil on canvas.
Signed.“
” Measurements: 66 x 95 cm; 84 x 112 cm (frame).

Joan Roig Soler began his training with Modest Urgell and later completed his studies by traveling to the great art capitals, Paris and Rome. Closely connected to Sitges, it was in this town that he, together with Arcadi Mas i Fondevila, founded the informal Catalan Luminist School. Devoted to landscape painting, he captured the coastal scenes of Blanes, Tossa, Cadaqués, Mallorca, and other locations, as well as urban landscapes (Barcelona, etc.) and the Pyrenean landscape. His work clearly reflects his focus on light and his desire to break away from the pictorial lyricism of the time. He practiced a style close to Impressionism that preceded the Modernism of Santiago Rusiñol and Ramón Casas, who came to know Sitges thanks to him. He exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and elsewhere. He was awarded the Third Medal at the 1887 National Fine Arts Exhibition and received awards at the exhibitions in Paris (1895), Barcelona (1896), and Zaragoza. His works are included in the collections of the Museums of Modern Art in Barcelona and Madrid.