Ángel Ries (1943) - El valle

Pictura Galeria presents this magnificent artwork by Ángel Ries, depicting a luminous rural landscape with golden fields, traditional houses, and abundant vegetation at the foot of a majestic mountain range, evoking serenity, rootedness, and harmony with nature. The painting stands out for its excellent technique and the high pictorial quality it conveys.

· Dimensions of the work: 50x65x2 cm.
· Oil on canvas hand-signed by the artist in the lower right corner of the piece.
· The piece is in good conservation condition.

The work comes from an exclusive private collection in Girona.

Important note: the photographs included are part of the lot description. Digital representation in an indicative mockup; there may be differences with the actual article in color, scale, and details.

The work will be professionally packaged 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 packaging 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 broad and luminous rural landscape dominated by the majestic presence of a mountain range rising in the distance. In the foreground, expansive golden fields of intense color stretch out, while several traditional buildings appear scattered at the foot of the mountains, surrounded by trees, shrubs, and abundant vegetation. The scene conveys the serenity of a clear day in the countryside and the deep harmony between nature, architecture, and rural life.

The foreground is occupied by an extensive surface of yellows, ochres, and golds that recalls a ripe cereal field or a sunlit meadow. This warm strip fills the lower part of the composition and establishes from the first moment an inviting atmosphere. The color variations, along with the darker areas crossing the terrain, suggest undulations, furrows, and small irregularities typical of a landscape worked over time.

The intense yellows possess a particularly attractive luminosity and seem to gather all the strength of summer light. In some areas they approach the color of gold, while in others they mix with browns, subdued greens, and deep shadows. This diversity gives movement to the field and prevents the surface from appearing uniform, guiding the eye slowly across the terrain until it reaches the buildings in the middle zone.

At the lower edge appears a narrow strip of light vegetation, formed by small clusters of wildflowers and plants. The whites, bluish greens, and delicate yellow hues introduce a note of freshness against the field's intensity. These flowers seem to grow spontaneously beside a path or a ditch and add an intimate dimension to the landscape, as if the viewer were looking at the scene from a nearby trail.

A dark line runs horizontally across the composition, separating the field from the group of houses. This zone may resemble a small wall, a strip of wet earth, a canal, or the natural boundary between plots. Its deep tone provides structure to the scene and creates a strong contrast with the surrounding bright yellows, reinforcing the sense of depth.

On the left rises a rural building with a simple, sturdy appearance, partially hidden among the vegetation. Its yellowish-green walls receive light with particular intensity, making it one of the main focal points. The dark, sloping, slightly irregular roof forms a beautiful contrast with the brightness of the facade and conveys the sense of a dwelling integrated for many years into this environment.

The house is surrounded by shrubs, young trees, and freely growing plants. Some bare branches rise beside the facade, while masses of various greens cover the lower area. Small white and yellow touches suggest flowers, illuminated leaves, or light reflections among the vegetation, enriching this corner and giving it a particularly lively and endearing character.

Its slightly separated placement from the rest of the buildings adds narrative interest to the scene. It could be an old country house, a farm shed, or a dwelling linked to nearby fields. Its presence invites imagining the daily life of those who inhabit or work in this place, marked by the rhythm of the seasons, field work, and the constant proximity of the mountains.

To the right, a small group of rural houses lines up along a strip of illuminated ground. Their light façades, built with cream, beige, soft yellow, and brown tones, stand out against the darker vegetation behind them. The warm-toned roofs directly receive the light and seem to glow under the blue sky.

The varying heights and orientations of the buildings add variety to the architectural ensemble. Some façades show small dark windows arranged simply, while others are partially hidden by neighboring constructions. They do not form a dense urban core but rather a peaceful, open hamlet perfectly integrated into the vastness of the landscape.

Between the left-side dwelling and the houses on the right rise several tall, stylized trees. Their vertical canopies, formed by deep, blue-tinged, and yellowish greens, introduce an ascending rhythm that visually links the buildings with the distant mountains. These trees act as a natural barrier, providing shade, freshness, and a sense of shelter to the small rural cluster.

The mid-zone vegetation is built through a rich succession of greens. Olive, emerald, moss green, and yellow-green tones appear, accompanied by blue-tinged and brown shadows. The lighter areas suggest shrubs and sunlit canopies, while the darker tones indicate lush, sheltered areas, creating a vegetal surface full of volume and depth.

Behind the houses rises a large slope covered by forests and scrub. This green mass occupies a significant part of the composition and serves as a transition between the horizontality of the field and the monumentality of the peaks. Its gentle slope guides the eye toward the rocky summits while enveloping the buildings and making them seem small before the vast natural expanse.

On the hillside a zone of yellow-green color appears, diagonally advancing toward the mountain. This luminous band may evoke a meadow, a clearing within the vegetation, or a path ascending toward the heights. Its course adds dynamism and awakens the desire to explore the landscape, as if there were a hidden path capable of leading from the houses to the summits.

The mountain range constitutes the great backdrop and one of the most striking elements of the work. Its irregular profiles unfold from left to right with peaks, crests, vertical walls, and rocky formations. Some mountains have smooth, rounded slopes, while others rise with large, steep blocks, creating a varied and powerful silhouette against the sky.

The rocky areas combine grays, whites, muted greens, yellows, and delicate pinkish nuances. The lighter tones emphasize the sunlit surfaces, while the deep grays and greens define crevices, cavities, and shadowed walls. This alternation allows perceiving the rugged relief of the mountains and grants them a solid, ancient, monumental presence.

In the central part stands a narrower, sharper summit that breaks the continuity of the neighboring elevations. Its profile directs the gaze upward and becomes an important visual axis. To its right appear large vertical forms, like natural ramparts, whose light walls dominate the horizon with a serene and imposing force.

The peaks on the right look particularly rugged. Their flat, irregular summits, separated by deep vertical cuts, resemble fortresses built by nature itself. The small greenish nuances visible among the rocks suggest the presence of high-altitude vegetation capable of growing on the slopes and in the toughest crevices.

On the far left, the mountains seem to recede progressively and acquire cooler, darker tones. This decrease in intensity helps to create distance and extends the landscape beyond the visible limits. The mountain range is not perceived as an isolated formation, but as part of a vast territory that continues outside the composition.

The sky occupies a wide expanse and envelops the scene in a soft clarity. Predominant are light, slightly grayish blues, accompanied by white clouds in elongated and diffuse shapes. Its breadth provides air and balance to the composition, preventing the mountains from feeling heavy and reinforcing the sense of a calm, bright day.

The clouds appear stretched horizontally and seem to drift slowly over the peaks. They do not announce a storm nor disturb the moment's serenity, but soften the light and add depth to the celestial space. Some areas nearly merge with the blue, while others retain a white luminosity that dialogues with the pale surfaces of the mountains.

The composition is organized through a balanced succession of planes. In the foreground appear the golden fields; then the vegetation and rural buildings; further back, the tree-covered slopes; and finally, the mountains and the sky. This structure guides the gaze from the warm closeness of the cultivated land to the fresh and elevated vastness of the horizon.

One of the most attractive aspects of the work is the contrast between warm and cool colors. The yellows and ochres of the field and roofs convey light, prosperity, and closeness, while the greens of the vegetation and the blues of the sky bring calm and freshness. The grays and whites of the mountains balance both groups and grant solidity to the landscape.

The absence of human figures intensifies the sense of silence and tranquility, although the houses and fields reveal a discreet human presence. The landscape does not appear abandoned, but inhabited in a respectful and harmonious way. The structures seem to be a natural part of the territory, without competing with the grandeur of the mountains or altering their character.

This relationship between the natural environment and rural life adds an emotional dimension to the work. The fields speak of work and the passage of the seasons; the houses evoke home, refuge, and continuity; the trees represent growth and protection; and the mountains convey permanence, strength, and memory. All these elements come together to offer an idealized, yet intimate, view of life in the countryside.

The scene seems to correspond to the late summer or early autumn, when the fields take on intensely golden hues and the light envelopes the façades with a special warmth. This possible seasonal transition adds a delicate sense of fullness to the landscape. The land appears prepared for harvest, while the vegetation still retains much of its vitality.

The landscape invites imagining the sounds and sensations of the place: the gentle movement of the plants under the breeze, the distant song of birds, the rustle of leaves, and the deep quiet coming from the mountains. One can also evoke the scent of dry earth, of ripe fields, and of sun-warmed vegetation.

Beyond its descriptive character, the work can be interpreted as a celebration of rootedness and of the relationship between people and their territory. The homes, small before the vastness of the mountains, convey humility and belonging. They represent a way of life tied to the landscape, where generations follow each other while the peaks stand watch over the valley in silent vigilance.

The image possesses a serene and timeless beauty. It does not depict an extraordinary event, but the grandeur of an everyday environment contemplated with attention and sensitivity. Precisely for this reason it is so evocative: it transforms a field, a few houses, and a few mountains into a scene capable of awakening memories of trips, places of origin, and landscapes associated with calm.

Overall, the work offers a luminous, warm, and deeply evocative vision of a rural valley protected by a towering mountain range. The golden fields, traditional houses, abundant vegetation, green slopes, and rocky summits form a balanced composition that conveys serenity, rootedness, and harmony. The contrast between the illuminated earth and the elevated mountains turns the landscape into a celebration of nature and simple living, inviting the viewer to imagine walking its paths and enjoying the peace of this beautiful environment."