1885 -1949 · Cosmopolitan symbolism, worldly portrait and deep blue nights

Enigmatic women, movie stars, night gardens and saturated blues give Federico Beltran Masses a sensual and cosmopolitan pictorial theater.

Federico Armando Beltran Masses was born in 1885 in Güira de la Melena, Cuba, into a Spanish family who soon returned to Barcelona. He studied at the Llotja school then deepened his profession with Joaquin Sorolla. From Spanish tradition, he retained portraiture, the presence of black and the fascination with Goya; from European symbolism, he adopted the dreamlike atmosphere, veiled eroticism and a taste for decor. After the scandal caused by La Maja Marquesa, he moved to Paris in 1916. His career became international: trade fairs, Venice Biennale, exhibitions in New York, Palm Beach, Los Angeles and London brought him commissions and fame. Beltran Masses painted aristocrats, writers, dancers and silent film stars, including Rudolph Valentino and Pola Negri. His portraits are not limited to resemblance. Costume, posture, landscape and accessories make up a public identity often crossed by melancholy. Its characteristic nocturnal blue envelops gardens, skies and architecture, while warm, deep red and gold skin tones emerge from the shadows. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Female figures, sometimes majas, Salomé or modern women, oscillate between spectacle and secret. Returning to Barcelona after the Second World War, he died there in 1949. His work testifies to a worldly art capable of bringing together Spanish tradition, symbolist imagination and emerging culture celebrities. The "Federico Beltran Masses" selection notably compares Tropical and Maja Maldita. Its reading favors details.

Beltran Masses paints fame like chiaroscuro: the shine of the costume catches the eye, but the night blue retains the secret of the model.