Ricard Canals

RICARD CANALS LLAMBÍ (Barcelona, 1876 - 1931).
"Gypsy".
Charcoal on paper.
Signed.
Measurements: 53 x 44 cm; 85 x 78 cm (frame).

Canals was a painter, draftsman and engraver, member of the "Colla del Safrà" (Saffron Group, so called because of its peculiar chromatic palette) together with the painters Nonell, Mir, Pichot and Vallmitjana. He began his studies at the School of La Lonja in Barcelona, but abandoned them soon after to continue painting in the street. A friend of Isidre Nonell, in 1896 they traveled together to Caldes de Boí, and the following year they moved to Paris. In the French capital they both exhibited at the Chez Dosbourg gallery with great success. Nonell returned to Barcelona and Canals stayed working for the art dealer Durand-Ruel, the dealer of the Impressionists, representing artists such as Corot, Monet and Pissarro. He was a personal friend of Picasso at this time, who portrayed his wife. He participated in the French Salons of 1897 and 1898, as well as in the exhibition held in 1902 at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York. In 1907 he returned definitively to Barcelona, where he presided over the association Las Artes y los Artistas. From then on he made several trips around Spain, visiting Madrid, Seville and Granada. From then on his works had a distinctly Spanish flavor, combined with his modern language. It was precisely this Spanish theme that brought him his greatest success in Paris, although in his later years he evolved towards a painting closer to noucentisme. He also distinguished himself as a portraitist. His last important work, before his untimely death, was the decoration of the ceiling of one of the rooms of the Barcelona City Hall. In 1933, two years after his death, the Sala Parés in Barcelona dedicated a large homage exhibition to him. Much of his work is preserved in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, but is also present in the collections of the Abbey of Montserrat, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Chile.