Joaquim Sunyer

BIOGRAPHY

Joaquim Sunyer i de Miró (Sitges, 1874–1956) was a prominent Spanish painter, considered the leading representative of Catalan Noucentisme.

He began his artistic career under the influence of his uncle, the Luminist painter Joaquim de Miró, and studied at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona alongside figures such as Isidre Nonell and Joaquín Mir, temporarily becoming part of the Impressionist-inspired group La Colla del Safrà.

In 1896, he moved to Paris, where he lived for fifteen years immersed in the bohemian atmosphere of Montmartre and Montparnasse. There, he absorbed Post-Impressionism, Symbolism and Cézanne’s structural influence, and became friends with artists such as Pablo Picasso, Manolo Hugué and Auguste Renoir.

Upon his permanent return to Catalonia in 1911, he radically transformed his style, abandoning the dark tones of his French period to establish an aesthetic based on order, balance and serenity.

His mature work was characterised by the seamless integration of human figures into coastal landscapes, faithfully capturing the light, colour and essence of the Mediterranean tradition, thus establishing himself as the favourite painter of the Catalan intellectuals of his time.

JOAQUIM SUNYER

Oil on canvas.
46 × 38 cm.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Bibliography: Reproduced in Isabel Sunyer-Juan A. Villalba, Joaquim Sunyer, online catalogue raisonné, Part 2, p. 936.

Etching and drypoint on paper.
Plate size: 23.5 × 31.8 cm.
Sheet size: 32.5 × 48.5 cm.
State proof.
Hand-signed by the artist.