1872 -1911 · Barcelona, Paris, Catalan modernism and social expression

Isolated figures, dark palette and nervous matter give Isidre Nonell a unique place in Catalan modernism, far from decorative and as close as possible to marginalized existences.

Isidre Nonell was born in Barcelona in 1872 into a family of traders. He trained in several workshops in the city, notably with Lluís Graner, and developed an incisive drawing very early on. With Ricard Canals, Joaquim Mir, Ramon Pichot and Juli Vallmitjana, he participated in the Colla del Safrà, or Safran group, a name given to the yellow and earthy tones of their youthful landscapes. In 1896, a stay in the Boí valley led him to draw inhabitants suffering from cretinism, a consequence of illnesses then linked to isolation and deficiencies. These images revealed his refusal of the comfortable picturesque: he looked at socially rejected bodies without transforming them into anecdotes. In 1897, Nonell goes to Paris with Ricard Canals. He exhibited, drew for the press and discovered Toulouse-Lautrec, Steinlen and modern life. Back in Barcelona, he frequented Els Quatre Gats but remained far from the most visible decorative seductions of modernism. From 1901, his portraits of Roma women became the center of his work. Sitting, often in profile or withdrawn into themselves, they occupied a dense space constructed by browns, black greens, deep reds and thick material. The social context and terms used in his time today require a critical reading: Nonell is interested in marginalized women, but the painter's gaze remains that of a man outside their community. The conservative press initially rejected these paintings. Paloma, painted in 1904, further individualized the model and slightly alleviated the anxiety of the first figures. From 1906, the palette became clearer, faces became more present and the public began to recognize the originality of the artist. Nonell died of typhus in Barcelona in 1911, at the age of thirty-eight, shortly after a major exhibition. Nonell died of typhus in Barcelona in 1911, at the age of thirty-eight, shortly after an important exhibition. The "Isidre Nonell" selection notably compared La Paloma. His reading favors drawing.

Nonell refuses to make marginality decorative: the figure remains alone, heavy with material and silence, until it becomes a presence impossible to dodge.