Joan Brull

JOAN BRULL VINYOLES (Barcelona, 1863 - 1912).
"Interior with figures".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
With label of the Parés room on the back.
Measurements: 55 x 46 cm; 73 x 64 cm (frame).
Joan Brull was formed in the School of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi of Barcelona, where he stood out as an outstanding student. Influenced by the realism of his teacher Simón Gómez Polo, he began his career with costumbrist and historical themes such as "La tonsura del rey Wamba", exhibited at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1883. During these years he was also related to the modernist movement and symbolist aesthetics, influences that marked much of his production. He then went to Paris, where he completed his training with Rapahel Cöllin for five years. His style evolved in an increasingly personal direction, leaving behind realism in favor of a "fin de siècle" idealism. Nevertheless, he continued to be interested in history painting, genre scenes and portraits, achieving great mastery in the latter. On his return to Spain, he participated in numerous group exhibitions in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as abroad, in London and Paris. He also took part in the National Fine Arts Exhibitions in Madrid, where he was decorated in 1892, 1895, 1897 and 1899. In those held in Barcelona he was also distinguished in the editions of 1894, 1896, 1898, 1907 and 1911. He obtained third medal in the Paris Exhibition of 1900, and was named Commander of the Order of Alfonso XII in 1904. He also participated as an art critic in the magazine "Joventut". On the fringes of academic rigor, Brull Vinyoles soon abandoned himself to the pictorial idealism to which he devoted all his work. A man of great culture, he actively participated in the gatherings of Els Quatre Gats. His technique of blurred contours, grisaille and pearly tones, as well as his subject matter populated by ethereal female figures, allow us to situate his work within romantic symbolism. After his untimely death, the Sala Parés in Barcelona dedicated a tribute exhibition to him (1913). Brull is represented in the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the Museo de La Garrotxa in Girona, and the Museo de Art Nouveau y Art Déco Casa Lis in Salamanca.