Joan Abelló

JOAN ABELLÓ PRAT (Mollet del Vallés, Barcelona, 1922 - Barcelona, 2008).
"My street", 1963.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 61 x 50 cm; 78 x 66 cm (frame).

Painter and engraver, Joan Abelló was formed in the Academy Baixas of Barcelona and in that of Pere Pruna. In his formative years he was greatly influenced by the works that Joaquín Mir had made in Mollet. He excelled especially as a landscape painter, with a post-impressionist style with a tendency towards expressionism. He completed his studies with trips to London, Belgium, Paris and the Isle of Man, among other places. In the sixties he returned to his native town, where he again became interested in the landscapes of the Vallés and the Mediterranean, although he did not abandon his extensive travels through Europe, Africa, the Ivory Coast, Morocco and Brazil. An outstanding collector, in 1996 he donated his art collection to the City Council of Mollet, which created the Joan Abelló Municipal Museum three years later. Attached to the museum is the artist's birthplace, which since 2002 has housed a restoration workshop and center for artistic studies. He is represented in the Museum that bears his name, as well as in the MACBA in Barcelona, the Courtauld Collection in London, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Vatican Museum, the Poldersmuseum in Belgium and the Francesc Galí Legacy.