54 - Catalan school of the late 19th–early 20th centuries.

Catalan school of the late 19th–early 20th centuries. “Seascape.” Oil on canvas. Signed “A. Berdaguer” in the lower right corner. Measurements: 32 x 60 cm; 38 x 66 cm (frame). Provenance: Estate of Ramon Martí Alsina and Ricard Martí Aguiló. Artistic and heritage collection originating in the legacy of Catalan painters Ramon Martí Alsina (1826–1894), a seminal figure of 19th-century Catalan Realism, and his son Ricard Martí Aguiló (1857–1935). Passed down and enriched across successive generations, the collection brings together works from the original holdings of both artists alongside acquisitions made by their descendants. Dedicated to preserving and recovering the family legacy, the descendants actively reacquired works by the painters as they entered the market, progressively expanding the collection to encompass paintings, sculptures, archaeological artifacts, and other items of artistic and historical significance. Although this is a work executed with an energetic, loose, and expressive style, influenced by Impressionism, the natural scene is dominated by a golden atmosphere inherited from the classical landscape tradition, which lends the image a certain romantic character. The approach, on the other hand, is characteristic of the Catalan school of this period—a genre painting featuring a fisherman’s boat occupying a central place in the composition, and a landscape devoid of any artificial construction or idealization, making it entirely modern in this sense.