Melancholy in White
1.400 €
This work by Enric Montserrat Foj, executed in oil on panel and signed by the artist in the lower left corner, stands as a piece of refined, intimate sensitivity within the artist's mature production, dedicated to the poetic rendering of portraiture and the idealization of the female figure; the composition depicts a half-length portrait of a young woman with a tilted profile and a melancholic gaze, set in an attitude of gentle contemplation with her hands resting upon her chest and neck, draped in a tunic of off-white tones; technically, the wood panel is distinguished by a virtuosic and highly complex textural surface treatment, where Montserrat combines the anatomical refinement of the face and hand gestures —the result of his refined training as a draftsman and illustrator— with an extraordinary tactile density in the background and the ornamental details of her hair, executed through thick palette-knife impasto with touches of yellow, ochre, blue, and pinkish pigments that create an almost sculptural low relief; stylistically, the work denotes a clear alignment with late Symbolism and lyrically-rooted Post-Impressionism, connecting with the ethereal atmospheres of the Pre-Raphaelite masters and Catalan intimate luminism; the use of the wooden support provides structural rigidity that the painter exploits to work the impasto with vibrant textures and partial scrapings that reveal the underlying layers, articulating a color palette dominated by chalk whites, ivories, soft earth tones, and warm brown highlights in the young woman's coppery hair; the work of Enric Montserrat Foj is represented in institutional heritage collections such as the historical archives of the former Editorial Bruguera and Selecciones Ilustradas (S.I.), corporate collections, and prominent private collections across Europe and the United States devoted to contemporary figurative art and 20th-century Spanish drawing.
TechniqueOil sobre madera
Dimensions
YearCirca 1988
ArtistMONTSERRAT FOJ, Enric
MONTSERRAT FOJ, Enric
Enric Montserrat Foj (Barcelona, 1938) is a prominent Catalan painter, draftsman, and illustrator associated with contemporary figurative realism and the lyrical renewal of the female nude in late 20th-century Spanish art. His artistic vocation developed at an early age, combining his youth training in academic art studios with classical drawing, oil technique, and artistic anatomy. During this formative period, Montserrat uniquely balanced his art studies with elite competitive artistic gymnastics in the Catalan Gymnastics Federation, sharing training sessions, exhibitions, and tours with legendary gymnast Joaquín Blume (1933–1959); this intense athletic background provided him with a profound kinetic and anatomical understanding of the human body that decisively shaped the structural rigor of his future paintings. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he built a prolific career in commercial illustration and comics. Joining the renowned agency Selecciones Ilustradas (S.I.) —founded by Josep Toutain—, his illustrations achieved international reach across British, Scandinavian, and American markets, alongside a sustained partnership with Editorial Bruguera. In the late 1970s, at the peak of his commercial success, he retired from commercial illustration to devote himself entirely to fine art studio painting. The core of his mature output centers on the human figure, primarily female nudes and intimate portraiture. Stylistically, his language embodies a poetic, classicist realism characterized by refined oil technique, smooth paint handling, and delicate tonal gradations where fine draftsmanship seamlessly blends into luminous, tranquil atmospheres. His work is celebrated for its anatomical precision, subtle rendering of flesh tones, and a harmonious palette of earthy and neutral tones. Works by Enric Montserrat Foj are preserved in corporate collections, historical publishing archives, and distinguished private collections specializing in figurative art and illustration across Europe and the United States.
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