Joan Llimona

Joan Llimona (1860-1926) was a Catalan artist who rose to popularity at end of the Romantic movement in Europe, Llimona was a key contributor to the modernist movement Llimona was born in Barcelona in 1860 and died in 1926 in his hometown of Barcelona. Despite his brief life, Llimona made a lasting impact on the modernist movement in European art during the early 20th century. Deeply influenced by religion, many of Llimona’s works deal with religious scenes and beliefs and subsequently communicate often controversial religious messages.

Llimona was born in Barcelona, Spain on June 23, 1860. He was born into an extremely religious and artistic family. Llimona was particularly close to his brother, Jose Llimona, who was an accomplished modernist sculptor.

Llimona had two children who were also large forces in the European art community: Nuria Llimona Raymer, a painter, and Mercedes Llimona Raymer, an illustrator. Joan Llimona died in 1926 in Barcelona.

Before Llimona became an accomplished and controversial artist, he studied architecture and engineering. Shortly after discovering his aptitude for painting, Llimona abandoned his architecture studies in favor of studying painting at the School of Llotja in Barcelona.

Llimona also spent large amounts of time studying painting in different cities throughout Europe. His time was concentrated studying painting in Madrid and Venice. During his frequent trips to Madrid, Llimona concentrated his time studying the paintings at the Prado.

Between the summer and fall of 1882, Llimona traveled to Venice with intentions to perfect his technique. During this time, he focused on his employment of color and brightness in his paintings, fearing that his paintings were often too mundane and dull. To do this, Llimona wanted to paint outdoors and gain experience with practice strokes for different colors and strengths. Additionally, Llimona visited countless museums throughout Venice to study paintings by Veronese, Tiepoli and Tintoretto.

Soon after pursuing his studies in painting, Llimona accompanied his brother to Rome. There, Jose pursued a scholarship he had won to study Roman sculpture. Upon the brothers’ arrival to Rome, the two artists were promptly welcomed into the first workshop of Enric Sierra. The brothers rented a studio in the Villa Estrollfern, an ancient villa near the Villa Borhese. This apartment functioned as Llimona’s home and workshop throughout his time in Rome. During his time in Rome, Llimona spent his days working in this workshop and spent his nights at the Academy of Gigi.

...
Wikipedia