4 - RICARD MARTÍ AGUILÓ (Barcelona, 1868–1936).

RICARD MARTÍ AGUILÓ (Barcelona, 1868–1936). “Flowers.” Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left corner. Measurements: 168 x 92 cm; 225 x 150 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. The exuberance of nature and the elegance of decorative painting come together in this monumental composition by Ricardo Martí Aguiló. Against a classically inspired architectural backdrop unfolds an extraordinary variety of flowers, leaves, and branches which, accompanied by small birds, create a scene of great visual richness and chromatic delicacy. The luminosity of the color palette, the freshness of the brushwork, and the dynamism of the plant forms evoke a Modernist sensibility, while the refined treatment of details reveals the solid pictorial tradition inherited from the 19th century. Ricardo Martí Aguiló was a Catalan painter associated with the Barcelona artistic tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The son of the renowned Ramón Martí Alsina, one of the leading figures of Catalan realism, he grew up in a family environment closely tied to painting, a circumstance that had a decisive influence on his artistic training. His work is characterized by a focus on drawing, an interest in naturalistic representation, and a marked decorative sensibility, developed within a context of aesthetic renewal in which the final manifestations of academicism coexisted with Modernism. His pictorial language combines the 19th-century realist tradition with greater freedom in the treatment of color and composition, reflecting the artistic tastes of Catalan society at the turn of the century.