VALLS, Pau

The Barcelonan painter and draftsman Pau Valls Cañellas (1935-2020) began his artistic journey under the direct tutelage of his father, the distinguished and prestigious Impressionist painter Nolasc Valls Martí, at the renowned Valls Academy, where he mastered the fundamentals of life drawing, compositional rigor, and a devotion to plein-air light, later continuing his solid academic training at the Llotja School of Arts and Crafts, the Massana School, and the Sant Jordi Superior School of Fine Arts in Barcelona; stylistically imbued with the grand tradition of mid-20th-century Catalan landscape and figurative art, his painting was directly influenced by Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and the lyricism of the School of Paris, developing a fully figurative style of profound poetic depth, serene atmosphere, and refined light sensitivity across landscapes, seascapes, urban views, interiors, and still lifes; technically, Valls is distinguished by a virtuosic command of oil on canvas and panel, characterized by a fluid, luscious brushstroke rich in texture, a balanced color scheme, and a subtle application of glazes alongside knife and broad-brush impasto to capture the ephemeral nuances of light; following a period of artistic maturity and formal consolidation, in 1977 he held his first major solo exhibition in Barcelona —marking the beginning of an uninterrupted and highly successful international career—, gaining early recognition when presenting his works in Paris in 1983 and becoming a member of the prestigious Société Internationale d'Art Figuratif (SIAF) in Paris the following year, a milestone that opened doors to major galleries and international exhibitions in France, Germany, and the United States; his global reach achieved a key breakthrough in 1986 when he debuted in Japan with exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka, a market where his work established deep roots with exceptional success and where he has continued to exhibit regularly over the decades; throughout his prolific career, he has been honored at numerous figurative painting competitions, and his artwork is featured in major institutional collections, prestigious galleries, and prominent private collections across Spain, Andorra, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, the United States, Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba, cementing his reputation as an undisputed master of contemporary poetic figurativism.