When we suggested that she do an exhibition, Grandma Montserrat always said that it wasn’t necessary, that she painted for the family. True – and God forbid, how much he painted: between them we have more than 150 of his paintings. In this “virtual gallery” I post a small selection.
See, mountain, town, city
Already at a young age, the grandmother began to show that she had an innate ability for drawing. Her time at the School of Fine Arts helped her perfect her technique.
This selection of his works reflects the variety of motifs in his painting, which include the Mediterranean and towns on the Costa Brava – such as Cadaqués. From the Riba d’en Pitxot, the view shows the church of Santa Maria, Port d’Alguer beach and the well-known arcades of this promenade where Dalí, by the way, had his studio.
Other towns in Emporda passed through his brushes. Pals, for example, which has a remarkable medieval historic center that Grandma Montserrat knew how to capture perfectly. Or Calella de Palafrugell, with its famous vaults and Port Bo beach.
The sea often features in her grandmother’s paintings, but so do mountain landscapes – and Barcelona, the city where she was born in 1917. That year, the great Exposition d ‘French Art. Maybe the fact that the grandmother was born in the year of that exceptional exhibition had something to do with her passion for painting, who knows!
Versions … and family houses
In addition to seascapes and interiors, he also did his own interpretation of works by renowned painters. This is the case of Plein Air, by Ramon Casas, one of the Barcelona artist’s most paradigmatic paintings; or a detail from The spinners (Las hilanderas), by the baroque painter Diego Velázquez. In terms of technique, although he usually painted watercolors he also did some oil, pen drawing, and charcoal.
Either motu proprio or at the request of one of us, Grandma painted family houses and views of the family villages. The scenes of his paintings are mostly in Catalonia – from the Priorat to the Empordà through the Maresme and the Vallès – but also in Galicia on the border with Portugal, and even in Ecuador.
One of the last motifs he painted were the bridges of La Vilella Baixa, in the Priorat, another of the familiar towns. The grandmother painted in a room in her house, where she lacked nothing to be able to create her works.
Montserrat Vendrell Salvia in her studio (2006)