Lluís Graner i Arrufí

He began his training at La Llotja, the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, going to classes at the Cases Academy and at Simó Gómez's workshop. He was awarded a grant by Barcelona Provincial Council to further his studies in Madrid and Paris, returning to Barcelona in 1891. His first works had marginal social themes (Interior de taverna [Bar Interior]; MNAC collection), but he became, above all, a great painter of portraits of the Catalan bourgeoisie and intellectuals of the period, a genre in which he stood out and achieved much success (Retrat de Raimon Casellas [Portrait of Raimon Casellas], 1894; MNAC collection).
During the early years of the 20th century - until 1907 - he temporarily gave up painting to enter the world of show business, in which he became an active figure with an innovative spirit. He invented a type of show that would include every kind of artistic manifestation - literature, painting, theatre, music, cinema - and in which a large number of the most representative artists of the Modernista movement would take part. To this end he created Sala Mercè (Rambla, 122; no longer in existence), which was decorated by A. Gaudí. All manner of events were held there, from talks to concerts and film shows, involving S. Rusiñol, E. Morera and R. Casas, with Segundo de Chomón as projeccionist and A. Gual as artistic director. Encouraged by this success, he became the impresario of Teatre Principal and set up a company called Espectacles i Audicions Graner.
When the company went bankrupt, he decided to go back to America, where he worked as a painter, and did not return to Barcelona until many years later.