Hermenegild Anglada i Camarasa

This painter, belonging to the second generation of Modernista artists, went to La Llotja, the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, where he was taught by Modest Urgell, whose influence is patent in his early works, mainly landscapes. His first exhibition was at Sala Parés (Petritxol, 5) in 1894, and he also took part in the 4th Barcelona Fine Arts Exhibition.
That same year he moved to Paris, where he lived until 1914, and studied there at the Académie Julian with Jean-Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant, and at the Colarossi Academy. In Paris he met P. Ysern and M. Pidelasserra, both members of the group El Rovell de l´Ou (The Egg Yolk), to whom he was bound by a close friendship.
During this period he developed his own style and cultivated various genres, mainly nocturnal atmospheres and interiors. Pictures of the Moulin Rouge and the Paris Casino, such as, for example, Nocturn a París (Nocturne in Paris, 1900; MNAC collection) are from this period, and he won recognition thanks to his intense production of paintings. With these pictures he staged an exhibition at Sala Parés in 1900 which was well received by painters who were his contemporaries, but was met by a certain rejection among the public, and he never achieved the same success as he had had in Paris and other European cities. In 1904 he made a trip to Valencia which led him to incorporate folkloric themes into his repertoire.
He ended his professional career in Pollença (Majorca), where he focused especially on the Majorcan landscape and, returning to the themes of his early work, produced more decorative paintings, such as, for example, Granadina (Woman from Granada, 1914; MNAC collection).
He was made an honorary member of the Hispanic Society of America, and it is in America where his work has aroused most interest