DIONÍS BAIXERAS VERDAGUER (Barcelona, 1862 - 1943). "Fishermen... Lot 13

DIONÍS BAIXERAS VERDAGUER (Barcelona, 1862 - 1943). "Fishermen at Sunset". Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower right corner. Size: 44 x 82 cm; 70 x 107 cm (frame). In this coastal scene Baixeras transmits us a costumbrist image devoid of any folkloric eagerness. On the contrary, he captures the everyday moment charged with harshness, but also with poetry, with some fishermen preparing the tools for the boats at dawn, next to the boats stranded on the sand. A disciple at the Escuela de la Lonja of Martí Alsina and, above all, of Antonio Caba, during his student years Baixeras was nicknamed "el medallas" ("the medal winner"), due to his facility for winning competitions. He exhibited for the first time in 1882 at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, and four years later he travelled to Paris, where he became enthusiastic about the peasant-themed realism of Millet and Bastien-Lepage. During these years he won awards at the Fine Arts Exhibitions in Madrid (1884, third medal) and Paris (1886, honourable mention). On returning to Barcelona he produced large compositions of a historical nature, such as those of the university auditorium (1888), the seminary (1904, destroyed in 1936) and the dome of the Generalitat's Sant Jordi Hall (1928). In 1907 he produced a series of drawings of a documentary type, centred on depicting the corners of Barcelona that would disappear with the construction of the Via Layetana, which won him a prize from the City Council. In 1926 he joined the Sant Jordi Royal Academy of Fine Arts and was linked to the Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc from its foundation. During his last years he wrote an interesting memoir, the original manuscript of which is now kept at the Sant Jordi Academy. Baixeras devoted himself mainly to naturalistic painting, with marine or rural themes, in works that show a certain influence of the Olot school. He worked meticulously on his works in his studio, which is why his preliminary drawings are much fresher and more interesting. In 1908 he produced a collection of drawings, of great documentary value, of places in old Barcelona which were to disappear when the Via Layetana was built. His work is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix (France) and the MACBA, among others.