Antoni Clavé (1913-2005) - Hommage à El Greco

Provenance

Estate of the artist
Galerie Semiha Huber, Zürich
Private collection Switzerland
Koller Auctions, Zürich
Private collection Netherlands

Antoni Clavé (1913–2005)
Homage to El Greco, 1964

Important original work by the internationally renowned Catalan artist Antoni Clavé (1913–2005), created in 1964. Antoni Clavé is generally regarded as one of the three leading modern painters of Catalonia, alongside Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies. In this impressive painting, Clavé pays homage to the great Spanish Renaissance master Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco). Clavé translates the historical example into his own immediately recognizable visual language, characterized by powerful expressivity, rich layering, and a monumental presence.

The expressive composition is characterized by a rich layering of the paint, strong brushwork, and a subtle interplay of deep black and brown tones with warm gold and ocher colors. The result is a monumental and timeless portrayal in which the centuries-old Spanish painting tradition merges with postwar modernism.

The work is executed in oil on paper, mounted on masonite, and is signed lower right. On the reverse are likewise the artist’s signature, the original title, the dating, and the dimensions.

The painting has recently been professionally reframed in a high-quality museum frame and equipped with museum glass (99). This new presentation allows the rich colors and the texture of the paint to come into their own while at the same time providing excellent protection. The current framing gives the painting a particularly elegant and museum-worthy appearance, making it immediately suitable for a high-end private collection.

Because of the very high-quality museum glass, there is some glare/reflectivity in the photos
Under UV light no retouches have been detected. The invoice from Koller Auctions is available.

A powerful, distinctive, and well-documented work by one of the most important Catalan artists of the twentieth century. Paintings by Antoni Clavé are now in the collections of, among others, the Musée National d’Art Moderne (Centre Pompidou), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC).