The Museu Carmen Thyssen Andorra proposes this week a new guided visit of our exhibition “INFLUENCERS in art. From Van Goyen to Pop Art”.
Today we invite you to discover ” The Rushing Stream at Argentona ” c. 1870-1880 by the artist Ramon Martí i Alsina which is part of the Carmen Thyssen collection.
Born in 1826 and died in 1894, Ramon Martí i Alsina is one of the greatest exponents of Catalan Realist painting and one of the heralds of modern landscape painting. Driven by his family, however, he began studying philosophy while attending evening classes at the Llotja School, where he was a pupil of Claudi Lorenzale and Lluís Rigalt.
However, his modernity is not limited to painting. Martí i Alsina, who later became a teacher at La Llotja, stood out for his teaching method which, always in line with his realistic ideals, encouraged his students to develop their own personal style. Although he was a beloved and respected teacher, he was dismissed because of his political commitments, especially his hostility to the Amadeista Constitution, which he refused to accept. Nevertheless, he will remain in the history of art the master of the greatest figures of modern Catalan painting, such as Joaquim Vayreda and Modest Urgell.
Initially inspired by Romanticism, Martí i Alsina left for Paris in 1855. There he discovered the work of Gustave Courbet, founder of the Barbizon School. He became a fervent admirer of these new concepts of empirical reality, and this period was to be a determining factor in the style of Catalan until the end of his life, as were his students and the history of Catalan and Spanish art.
Ramón Martí i Alsina was a prolific painter who would approach all genres. As a defender of reality as his sole source of inspiration, it is in landscapes and seascapes that the artist stands out the most. Characterised by his mastery of composition and colour, he observes nature at length in order to capture the changing effects of light and atmospheric impressions as objectively as possible.
A versatile artist, Ramón Martí i Alsina will follow emerging movements until the end of his life, something that will make him an omnipresent figure both during his lifetime and after his death. His legacy will live on, both through his students and the ideals and concepts he transmitted to them.
