Pere Ysern Alié

PERE YSERN ALIÉ (Barcelona, 1875 - 1946).
"Dancer", ca. 1912.
Watercolor on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 27 x 21 cm; 45 x 39 cm (frame).

Pere Ysern Alié was born in a moment of full cultural and economic effervescence of Catalonia, in the bosom of a progressive family and of comfortable economic situation. He was a disciple of Pere Borrell del Caso in his academy, where with Ramón Riera he formed the nucleus of the group "El Rovell de l'Ou", with a clear realist taste, which reacted against the modernist stagnation. He was presented for the first time at the General Exhibition of Fine Arts in Barcelona in 1894, and in 1896 he traveled to Rome, where he stayed for two years and completed his training with Ramón Tusquets. On his return to Barcelona, in 1898, he took part in the Municipal Exhibition of Fine Arts. The following year he settled in Paris, where he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1900. He will also be a regular participant in the Salon des Indépendants. In the French capital he discovered the walls of the Pantheon of Puvis de Chavannes, but also the impressionist works of the Luxembourg Museum. A clear sign of his international success was his participation, in 1901, in the St. Petersburg International Exhibition, where the Russian Tsar bought one of his paintings. Settled in Paris, he made occasional visits to Barcelona, where he exhibited his work at the Sala Parés in 1901 and 1903, and participated in the collective exhibition of the Association of Catalan Painters and Sculptors organized there in 1905. Gradually his longing for his native land grew and, after spending several seasons in Mallorca after the First World War, he returned to Spain in 1927. His presence in Barcelona and Catalan competitions will be constant, and his painting will finally be valued in our country, but the Civil War makes him return again to Paris. In 1939 he returns definitively to Barcelona, where he will remain for the rest of his life. Pere Ysern Alié is mainly represented in the MACBA, as well as in the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the La Caixa Foundation and various private collections.