LAUREANO BARRAU BUÑOL PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY
LAUREANO BARRAU BUÑOL
Spanish, 1863 - 1957
BIOGRAPHY
Laureano Barrau Buñol was born in Barcelona and began his studies in that city with Antonio Caba. At the age of 18 Barrau exhibited five paintings at an exhibition in Barcelona, including An Artist’s Studio and four watercolors. After further study in Madrid, Barrau moved to Paris at the age of 20. He was accepted into the Académie des Beaux-Arts where his teacher was Jean-Léon Gérôme. At the age of 22, Barrau won the Prix de Rome which gave him the opportunity to study the Italian masters for three years.
At the age of 28 Barrau became a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He exhibited his paintings regularly at the annual Paris Salon from 1887 until 1935. The well known art critic Paul Adam wrote in Le Journal of Barrau’s canvases at the Salon: “He has captured the truth of strong sunlight and has embodied its radiance with such surety in his paintings that they illuminate the entire gallery”. In August 1897 Barrau’s painting Le Ruisseau was illustrated on the cover of Figaro Illustré magazine in Paris.
Barrau was also an accomplished and highly sought after portrait painter, with subjects such as the Comte and Comtesse de Lastours, the Marquise de Vesius, Comte and Comtesse de Laurens and Monsieur de Moubel. In Buenos Aires, the artist painted portraits of Mr. Ceballos, Rector of the University, Mr. and Mrs. Dassen, and Mr. Recondo.
Barrau’s life changed when, at the age of 47, he moved to the picturesque Ballearic island of Ibiza. He and his wife Berta Vallier settled in the town of Santa Eulària del Río and remained there for the rest of their lives. Barrau was captivated by the light, color, customs and people of the island and developed a more impressionistic style of painting, influenced by the work of Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, for which he is best known. After the artist’s death in 1957, his widow opened a museum in the house they bought in Puig de Missa. In 2014, the city council opened the Sala Barrau on Paseo de s’Alamera, where a selection of the museum’s collection is on display.
Solo exhibitions of Barrau’s work were held in Madrid in 1918, Buenos Aires in 1920 and at the Henry Reinhardt Gallery in New York in 1924.
Museum Collections
Museu National d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
Fundació Rafael Masó, Casa Masó, Girona
Sala Barrau, Santa Eulària del Río, Ibiza
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
Museu National de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro
