Apeles Mestres

APELES MESTRES OÑÓS (Barcelona, 1854 - 1936).
"Peace and progress".
Oil on canvas.
Signed and titled in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 75 x 102 cm; 94 x 220 cm (frame).

The painting that we show has a great artistic, documentary and historiographic value. The Catalan painter Apeles Mestres displays here his particular mastery to compose a multitudinous and celebratory scene, a popular celebration before an anecdotal but significant event, the inauguration of the Monument to Peace that was erected at the end of what would be the Ramblas de Santa Monica, in Barcelona, in the year 1876. It was erected in the place now occupied by the monument to Columbus. The city council wanted to celebrate peace in a symbolic way, after the third and bloody Carlist war. Antoni Rovira i Trias was in charge of the monument, presided over by a female allegory flanked by lions on a staircase. Flags of Spain and Catalonia coexist in harmony. Men and women with barratinas dance sardanas, others carry bundles of straw. They are probably going to light a bonfire in honor of peace. In the distance, boats can be seen approaching the port and, on the other side, several chimneys are smoking. Children are running around. One is doing the vertical on his hands and his friends are singing. A group of men are waving flags. The anecdote is juicy and immense. A blue sky, without a cloud, enhances the colors of popular joy.

Writer, cartoonist, painter, cartoonist and musician, Apelles Mestres was invested in 1908 with the title of Mestre en Gai Saber. He was also decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor of the French government (1920) and with the Gold Medal of the city of Barcelona.

Apeles Mestresa (Barcelona, October 29, 1854-Barcelona, July 19, 1936) was a Spanish writer and cartoonist, notable figure of Catalan literature and precursor of the comic strip. Mestres, a multifaceted artist who cultivated poetry, music and theater, collaborated with cartoons in the periodical press of the time in addition to being a prolific illustrator of books. Progressive and linked to republicanism at certain stages of his life, he opposed the most conservative sectors of the Catalan literary scene, of which Mestres is considered a notable figure.