ELISEO MEIFRÉN (Barcelona, 1857 - 1940).
"Landscape.
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Size: 27 x 18 cm; 57 x 47 cm (frame).
In this composition, Meifrén's brushstroke achieves freedom and boldness by abstracting the pure impression of a landscape scene. It is probably a late painting, from a mature period when Meifrén had already fully assumed his characteristic technique of loose brushstrokes and vibrant palette, which here almost verges on abstraction. Eliseo Meifrèn is considered one of the first introducers of the Impressionist movement in Catalonia. He began his artistic training at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he was a pupil of Antonio Caba and Ramón Martí Alsina, with whom he began to produce romantic landscapes of academic style. After completing his studies in 1878, he moved to Paris in order to broaden his artistic knowledge, and there he became acquainted at first hand with "plen air" painting, which was to have a powerful influence on his Parisian landscapes of those years. It was also in Paris that he coincided with the public debut of Impressionism. A year later he made a trip to Italy, during which he visited Naples, Florence, Venice and Rome, where he came into 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 took part in the Regional Exhibition in Valencia, where he won a gold medal. Back in Barcelona in 1880, he made his individual debut in 1880 at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, where he continued to exhibit regularly from then on. During these years he was a member of the Modernist group and frequented Els Quatre Gats. In 1883 he returned to Paris, where he produced numerous drawings and watercolours with views of the city and its cafés, which earned him a warm reception from the French critics and public. In the late 1980s he returned to Barcelona and continued to show his work at the Sala Parés, as well as at the Centre de Aquarelistes. In 1888 he was also a member of the jury for the Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona. In 1890 he returned to the French capital for the third time, where he took part in the Salon des Beaux-Arts and the Salon des Indépendants of 1892, together with Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, artists with whom he had formed the Sitges pictorial group the previous year. In the following years Meifrèn submitted his works to numerous official exhibitions and competitions, including the National Exhibitions of Madrid and Barcelona, and was awarded third medals at the Paris Universal Exhibitions of 1889 and 1899, a silver medal at the Brussels Universal Exhibition of 1910, a grand prize at the Buenos Aires Universal Exhibition of the same year, a medal of honour at the San Francisco International Exhibition of 1915 and a grand prize at the San Diego Exhibition the following year. He also won the Nonell Prize in Barcelona in 1935. In 1952, Barcelona City Council dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him, held at the Palau de la Virreina. His early landscapes, characterised by an academic and romantic concept, later evolved towards an impressionist language. He is currently represented in the Museo del Prado, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the MACBA in Barcelona and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, among many others.