109 - PAULA LEIVA GRANGER (Santiago, Chile, 1961).

PAULA LEIVA GRANGER (Santiago, Chile, 1961). “Rosal del aire,” 2026. Oil and Chinese ink on unbleached linen, mounted on a wooden stretcher frame. Signed in the lower right corner. Dimensions: 65 x 80.5 cm. The depiction of nature occupies a central place in Paula Leiva Granger’s painting, whose artistic language reveals a marked influence of Japanese aesthetics, particularly in its formal synthesis and the expressive power of negative space. In this work, the artist recreates an English rosebush from Barcelona’s Cervantes Park in full spring bloom. The delicate pink hues of the flowers stand in stark contrast to the greens of the foliage, while the horizontal arrangement of the branches establishes a balanced visual rhythm. The partially exposed unbleached linen background lends warmth and lightness to a composition that celebrates the ephemeral beauty of the plant world. Paula Leiva Granger studied painting at the Escola Massana and La Llotja in Barcelona, receiving the Escola Massana’s Extraordinary Graduation Prize in 1984. A painter, illustrator, and teacher, she has participated in exhibitions in Spain, Chile, Germany, and the United States, and her work has been sold through Christie’s. In 2001, she was named Artist of the Year at the 14th Premi Solidaritat 2000 Drets Humans, awarded by the Parliament of Catalonia. Between 2021 and 2023, she contributed as a watercolorist to *The Plant Review*, a publication of the Royal Horticultural Society in London. She is the author of the book *Practical Manual of Drawing and Watercolor* (Editorial Océano, 2007), which was also published in China.