JOAN ROIG SOLER (Barcelona, 1852-1909).
"Fishermen's House on the Catalan Coast".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 44 x 64 cm; 67 x 87 cm (frame).
Joan Roig captured in repeated occasions, coastal images that were close and known to him, revealing the lyricism of the daily work of the fishermen, or simply, capturing with his penetrating glance the Mediterranean light impregnating every corner of the coast, as in this peaceful landscape of a Catalan village. Here he shows a special sensitivity to light and atmosphere, and a treatment of range and matter with an Impressionist heritage.
Joan Roig Soler began his training with Modest Urgell and later completed his apprenticeship by travelling to the great art capitals of Paris and Rome. Closely linked to Sitges, in this town he initiated, together with Arcadi Mas i Fondevila, the informal Catalan Luminist School. Devoted to landscape, he cultivated the coastal environments of Blanes, Tossa, Cadaqués, Mallorca, etc., but also the urban landscape (Barcelona, etc.) and the Pyrenees. His work clearly shows his preoccupation with light and his desire to break with the pictorial lyricism of the time. He practised a style close to impressionism which preceded the modernism of Santiago Rusiñol and Ramón Casas, who came into contact with Sitges thanks to him. He exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, etc. He was awarded the third medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition of 1887, and won prizes at the Paris (1895), Barcelona (1896) and Saragossa Exhibitions. He is represented in the collections of the Museums of Modern Art in Barcelona and Madrid.