Josep Damián Torres (1921–2008) - La cosecha

Pictura Galeria presents this magnificent artwork belonging to Damián Torres, depicting a vast golden field beneath a hill crowned by an ancient fortress, uniting the serenity of nature with the memory and grandeur of history. The painting stands out for its excellent technique and the high pictorial quality it conveys.

· Dimensions of the work: 27x35x1 cm.
· Oil on canvas hand-signed by the artist in the bottom left corner of the piece.
· The work is in good condition.

The piece comes from an exclusive private collection in Girona.

Important note: the photographs included are an integral part of the description of the lot.

The work will be professionally packed by an IVEX expert (https://www.instagram.com/ivex.online/), using high-quality materials to ensure its protection. The shipping price covers both the cost of professional packing and the transport itself.
Shipping will be carried out by Correos or GLS with tracking. International shipping available.

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This painting presents a wide rural landscape in which a golden field stretches to the foot of a hill crowned by an imposing architectural formation. The scene combines the warmth of cultivated land with the depth of greens and the changing intensity of the sky, building a solemn and deeply evocative vision. From the very first moment, the gaze is guided from the stalks in the foreground to the monumental silhouette on the horizon, following a journey rich in contrasts and nuances.

The field occupies almost the entire lower half of the composition and becomes an expansive surface of golden tones, ochres, beige, and browns. The abundance of small vertical forms suggests mature crops ready for harvest, softly moved by the breeze. The chromatic richness of this area conveys fertility and links the scene to the cycles of nature, farming labor, and the fullness of summer.

In the part closest to the viewer, the vegetation shows a great variety of shades. Among the toasted tones appear small flashes of white, pink, green, and yellow that break the uniformity of the field and add vitality. These variations make the surface seem to advance outward from the canvas, allowing the texture of the plants and the irregular movement of the stalks in the wind to be imagined.

As the gaze moves toward the center, the field becomes brighter and clearer. This light strip acts as a transition between the foreground vegetation and the dark mass of the trees at the foot of the hills. The contrast between the two spaces creates depth and establishes a natural separation between the cultivated land and the elevations that dominate the background.

The line of trees and shrubs appears built with deep greens, dark blues, and almost black tones, forming a dense and mysterious green barrier. Some canopies are individualised with green and yellow accents, while others blend into a continuous mass. This dark strip intensifies the field’s luminosity and provides a firm base on which the mountains rise.

In the middle plane, the hills show an extraordinary variety of greens. Emerald, olive, bluish, and grayish tones are distributed along the undulations of the terrain and suggest slopes covered with vegetation, paths, and rocky areas. Light seems to travel irregularly across the slopes, leaving some spaces illuminated and others in shadow, adding volume and drama to the landscape.

The composition reaches its greatest intensity at the top of the hills, where a large ancient, fortified-looking structure rises. Its dark volumes seem to merge with the rock, as if the architecture had been born from the mountain itself. Towers, walls, and irregular profiles follow along the summit, creating a monumental silhouette that conveys history, resilience, and mystery.

The construction may evoke an ancient fortress, a castle, or the remains of a settlement perched above the land. Its dominant position suggests a place designed to observe and protect the surrounding fields. Although details are subdued by distance, the strength of its profile stirs the imagination and invites thoughts of the generations who inhabited that enclave and gazed at the same landscape from above.

The sky occupies a wide area of the work and actively participates in its atmosphere. The blues, grays, whites, and delicate violet hues form a changing space, traversed by clouds that seem to move slowly. The clarity of some areas contrasts with others more dense, creating the impression of a variable day in which light appears and disappears over the fields.

This instability of the sky introduces a gentle tension into the scene. The landscape is not under uniform illumination but subjected to changes that affect each plane differently. The field remains warm and bright, while the hills and the architecture take on deeper tones. The contrast reinforces the almost legendary character of the fortress and makes it a silent presence beneath the clouds.

The structure of the composition is organized by large horizontal bands: the golden field, the dark vegetation, the green hills, the summit construction, and the sky. This arrangement provides balance and allows a clear perception of depth. At the same time, the vertical forms of the stalks and the elevated profiles of the fortress introduce a rhythm that animates the scene and prevents any sense of excessive stillness.

The absence of human figures gives the landscape an atmosphere of solitude and contemplation. However, the presence of the crops and of the architecture reveals the imprint of those who have worked and inhabited the territory. The field speaks of daily effort and the continuity of life, while the fortress represents historical memory. Thus the work gathers two temporities: the renewable cycle of nature and the silent permanence of the past.

The painting conveys a deep connection between the land and history. The construction does not appear separated from its surroundings, but integrated into the hills and visually linked to the fields that extend at its feet. This relationship transforms the landscape into something more than a natural view: it becomes a territory laden with memories, identity, and stories that seem to be preserved among the stones and vegetation.

Altogether, the work offers a majestic and evocative view of a golden field that leads up to a hill crowned by an ancient fortress. The warmth of the stalks, the depth of the green slopes, and the drama of the sky create a richly contrasted and emotional composition. It is a landscape that conveys serenity, memory, and grandeur, capable of imparting to any room a powerful sense of spaciousness, rootedness, and timeless beauty.