Joan Brull Vinyoles
1863–1912 · Catalan Symbolist painter
Joan Brull i Vinyoles (Barcelona, 1863 - 1912) was a Catalan painter of the late nineteenth century and one of the leading figures of Symbolism in Catalonia, alongside Adrià Gual, Josep Maria Tamburini and Alexandre de Riquer.
He trained at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona and in Paris, and worked as an art critic for the magazine Joventut. He moved in the intellectual circles of his day, including Els Quatre Gats and the Real Círculo Artístico, and became friends with Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol.
His early work was realistic, but over the years he turned to Symbolism, painting mythological figures, mostly female. He was also a prolific portraitist, above all of children and beggars in Barcelona at the end of the century. In 1896 he won first prize at the International Exposition of Barcelona with his work Ensomni. In 2009 the Caixa Girona Foundation devoted a retrospective to him, with more than forty works, at its Fontana d'Or centre.
Works (2)
Painted in 1905 by Joan Brull, this oil on canvas belongs to modernism, a movement that in Catalonia and much of Europe often favoured decorative effects and intimate or symbolic subjects. The English title, Dream, points to the world of sleep and fantasy, a theme common in symbolist and modernist painting of the period.
Where to see the work
- Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya Barcelona · 1
- Abelló Museum Mollet del Vallès · 1