Spanish school; 20th century.

Spanish school; 20th century. "Portrait of María Teresa Pérez Rubio. 1939. Oil on canvas. With heraldic coat of arms on the back. Signed (Yon Aranda), dated and titled on the back. Measurements: 162 x 130 cm. Work in which Doña María Teresa Pérez Rubio is represented, at the age of 24 years. The portrait shows a great instantaneity, similar to a fleeting vision captured from life, which is denoted by the spontaneous gesture that the protagonist adopts. However, she is portrayed in a calm, elaborate manner in a studio, where the composition has been carefully studied by the artist. The woman, dressed in a long pink satin dress which contrasts with the red of her shoes and the bluish tones of the background, is shown to the viewer in a natural manner. Seated on a long yellow bench, the woman presents herself to the viewer in an elegant and even sensual manner. These characteristics can be deduced from the intensity of the young woman's gaze, and from the book which, anecdotally, is lying on the floor. This shows that the protagonist has abandoned all activity to pose in front of the painter. As in the rest of Europe, portraiture became the leading genre par excellence in Spanish painting in the 20th century as a result of the new social structures that were established in the Western world during that century, embodying the ultimate expression of the transformation in the taste and mentality of the new clientele that emerged among the nobility and the wealthy upper middle class, who took the reins of history in this period. While official circles gave precedence to other artistic genres, such as history painting, and the incipient collectors encouraged the profusion of genre paintings, portraiture was in great demand for paintings intended for the more private sphere, as a reflection of the value of the individual in the new society. This genre embodies the permanent presence of the image of its protagonists, to be enjoyed in the privacy of a studio, in the everyday warmth of a family cabinet or presiding over the main rooms of the house.