50 - RAFAEL DURÁN I BENET (Terrassa, 1931 – Barcelona, 2015).

RAFAEL DURÁN I BENET (Terrassa, 1931 – Barcelona, 2015). “Panoramic View of the Chapel of Saint Sebastian, Cadaqués,” 1958. Oil on canvas. Signed in the lower left corner. Signed and dated on the reverse. Measurements: 59.5 x 73 cm; 71 x 83.5 cm (frame). Rafael Durán began his training with his uncle Rafael Benet, from whom he learned his approach to color. Thanks to the guidance of Manolo Hugué and Rafael Llimona, he began his career as a painter around 1946. He held his first solo exhibition at the Vayreda Gallery in Barcelona in 1958, and two years later began his collaboration with the Parés Gallery, with which he continues to work today. Throughout his life, he has alternated between stays in Amsterdam, Paris, and Collioure (France). He has held exhibitions in Spain, Andorra, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Belgium, and among his numerous awards are the Barcelona Provincial Council Prize (1967), the Flores y Jardines Prize from the Barcelona Artistic Circle (1973), and the Henri Forman Prize from the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1980).