Eliseo Meifrèn

ELISEO MEIFRÈN ROIG (Barcelona, 1859 - 1940).
"Cadaqués. 1936.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
With label of the Barcino gallery on the back.
Measurements: 100 x 110 cm.

The mythical town of Empordà was one of Meifrèn's favorite places. Throughout his life he repeated his visits to Cadaqués, and in spite of his successful itinerancies around the world, he never stopped having in mind the peaceful life licked by the Mediterranean. This painting belongs to a period of maturity, in which the mastery of light is remarkable, translating into accomplished cerulean glazes, in beautiful contrast with the line of whitewashed houses and the vibrant figures swarming along its margins, resolved with accurate touches, quick and sketchy strokes. The stormy and sunset sky is reflected on the mottled water, which gives an expressive and atmospheric quality to the coastal landscape, breaking with the idealized image of this beautiful place, going far beyond the friendly picturesqueness. The view of Cadaqués is ascribed to a treatment of light and color typical of late impressionism. The artist achieves a vibrant and evocative work that celebrates both the visual and emotional character of this coastal spot.

A painter of landscapes and seascapes, Eliseo Meifrèn is considered one of the first introducers of the impressionist movement in Catalonia. He began his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where he was a disciple of Antonio Caba and Ramón Martí Alsina, with whom he began to create romantic landscapes of academic style. After finishing his studies, in 1878, he moved to Paris in order to broaden his artistic knowledge, and there he got to know first hand the painting "à plen air", which would influence him powerfully in his Parisian landscapes of those years. Likewise, in Paris he coincided with the public beginning of impressionism. A year later he made a trip to Italy, during which he visited Naples, Florence, Venice and Rome; there he made contact with the circle of Catalan artists formed by Ramón Tusquets, Arcadio Mas i Fondevila, Enrique Serra, Antonio Fabrés and Joan Llimona, among others. That same year, 1879, he participated in the Regional Exhibition of Valencia, and won a gold medal. Once back in Barcelona, in 1880 he made his individual debut in the Sala Parés in Barcelona, where he continued to exhibit regularly since then. During these years he was part of the modernist group, and frequented Els Quatre Gats. In 1883 he returned to Paris, where he made numerous drawings and watercolors with views of the city and its cafés, which earned him a warm welcome from French critics and the French public. At the end of the eighties he returned to Barcelona and continued to show his work at the Sala Parés, as well as at the Centro de Acuarelistas. Also, in 1888 he was a member of the jury of the Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona. In 1890 he returned for the third time to the French capital, where he participated in the Salon des Beaux-Arts and in the Salon des Indépendants of 1892, together with Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, artists with whom he had formed the Sitges pictorial group a year earlier. In the following years Meifrèn would send his works to numerous official exhibitions and competitions, among them the National Exhibitions of Madrid and Barcelona, and was awarded the third medal at the Paris Universal of 1889 and 1899, silver medal at the Brussels Universal of 1910, grand prize at the Buenos Aires Universal of the same year, medal of honor at the San Francisco International of 1915 and grand prize at the San Diego International of the following year. He also won the Nonell Prize of Barcelona in 1935. In 1952, the Barcelona City Council dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him, held at the Palacio de la Virreina. His initial landscapes, characterized by an academic and romantic concept, would later evolve towards an impressionist language; abandoning the Roman preciosism, his would be a technique of loose brushstrokes and clear palette, in which the luminous conception approaches symbolist budgets, within the orbit of Modesto Urgell. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum, the National Art Museum of Catalonia, the MACBA in Barcelona and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, among many others.