Joan Roig Soler

JOAN ROIG SOLER (Barcelona, 1852-1909).
"Watermelon stall".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Size: 9 x 18 cm; 21 x 29 cm (frame).
Joan Roig Soler began his training with Modest Urgell and later completed his apprenticeship by travelling to the great art capitals, Paris and Rome. Closely linked to Sitges, in this town he started, 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.