Isidre Nonell Half-body Figure

Figura de medio cuerpo, 1907.
Oil on canvas. 73,5 x 59,5 cm

Isidre Nonell is the most emblematic name—though not necessarily the most creative—of the post-modernist generation of Catalan painters. His stint in Paris between 1897 and 1900 led to his direct contact with the most exciting trends in European art at the time: he even displayed his works in the Salon of Impressionists and Symbolists (1897) and with such prominent dealers of modern art as Ambroise Vollard and Berthe Weill. Focused on marginalised figures, he painted them with thick, loose and extremely vigorous brushstrokes, which made him a clear predecessor of an expressionism that had not yet been named. The young Picasso, eager for new trends, joined Nonell in regularly attending the Barcelona tavern Els Quatre Gats; he venerated and was influenced by Nonell, although this does not imply that he literally copied his style.

Even though he also cultivated landscapes and drawing—and figured quite prominently in the satirical press—his most memorable motifs are figures of Gypsy women, some of whom he actually became intimate with. This Half-Body Figure, however, depicts a woman who is not a Gypsy, as the year it was made, 1907, the painter turned almost completely away from his fixation on Gypsy women, most likely the somewhat delayed consequence of the death of his last partner, Consuelo, who was a Gypsy woman. His style also gradually quietened, driven by a nascent professional success that he would never be able to fully enjoy due to his early death by illness. This late turn towards more stylistic serenity, which this work perfectly exemplifies, led Eugeni d’Ors to include him in his Almanach dels noucentistes in 1910–11. However, his unexpected death meant that his style no longer influenced the design of what would be considered the archetype of the new noucentista movement.

Nonetheless, his early passing and constant restlessness turned his memory into a standard-bearer for the younger generation of Catalan artists, as explicitly verbalised by Rafael Benet, who was not only a painter and outstanding critic but also one of his first biographers.

Francesc Fontbona, full member of the Royal Catalan Academy of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi, and of the Institute of Catalan Studies, doctor in history and expert on Isidre Nonell.