David Izquierdo (1967) - Estación de Provença

Provença Station

1. TECHNICAL DATA

Title: Provença Station
Author: David Izquierdo (b. 1967)
Chronology: 1991
Technique: Oil on canvas
Measurements: 89 × 116 cm (work) · 92 × 120 cm (frame)
Support: Canvas stretched on a wooden frame
Style: Contemporary urban Expressionism
State of conservation: Excellent; surface stable and colors vivid

2. COMPOSITIONAL AND ICONOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION

The painting represents with vibrant energy the Provença station in Barcelona, capturing the everyday moment of the Catalan Railways train entering the platform. The artist employs a dynamic central perspective that guides the gaze toward the dark tunnel in the background, creating a powerful sense of depth and movement.

The orange carriages contrast with the pale light of the vaulted ceiling, symbol of the metropolitan pulse. The human figures, barely sketched, reflect the fugacity of urban life: anonymous pedestrians who cross beneath monumental architecture.

The loose and vibrant brushwork, together with the thick pictorial matter, lends the whole an spontaneous and emotive character, where color becomes an expressive protagonist rather than a mere descriptive element.

3. STYLE AND COMPARATIVE VALUATION

David Izquierdo places himself in the line of modern figurative expressionism, with aesthetic affinities toward Raoul Dufy and Maurice Utrillo for his lyrical treatment of the urban environment, and echoes of Nicolau Raurich or Xavier Valls in his contemporary Catalan sensibility.

His vision of the railway, more poetic than realistic, turns the station into a metaphor of transit and time, where architecture and humanity merge under an electric atmosphere.

The work stands out for its balance between emotion, rhythm and color, consolidating Izquierdo as one of the most sincere exponents of Barcelona’s pictorial urbanism of the late 20th century.