Eliseu Meifrén: Barcelona 1859 - 1940

AWARDS

1879 - Exposición Regional de Bellas Artes, Valencia. Gold medal

1879 - Exposición Regional de Vilanova y la Geltrú. First prize

1887 - Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid. Third class medal

1889 - Exposition Universelle de Paris. Bronze medal

1890 - Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid. Bronze medal

1891 - Exposition de la Société des Amis des Arts, Versailles. Diploma of Honour

1896 - III Exposición de Bellas Artes e Industrias Artísticas, Barcelona. First class medal

1899 - Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid. Second class medal

1904 - Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid. Second class medal

1906 - Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid. First class medal

1910 - Exposición Internacional de Buenos Aires. Grand prize

1910 - Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles. Silver medal

1915 - International Exhibition of San Francisco. Medal of Honour

1916 - International Exhibition of San Diego. Grand Prize

1935 - Isidre Nonell Prize, Barcelona

COLLECTIONS 

Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, Barcelona

Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza 

Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia

Museo de Arte de Sabadell

Fundación Francisco Godia, Barcelona

Museo de San Telmo, San Sebastián

Colección de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 

Colección Masaveu 

Colección Banco Sabadell 

Colección BBVA 

Colección Banco de España

Eliseu Meifrén started studying medicine, though soon abandoned these studies, knowing his true vocation for drawing and painting. This decision led him to enter the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, where his teachers were renowned artists such as the portrait painter Antonio Caba (1838–1907) or the landscape artist Ramon Martí Alsina (1826–1894).

In 1879 he took his first trip to Paris where he came into contact with the work of Impressionists such as Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Edgar Degas (1834–1917) or Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), as well as the revolution of colour and light that these artists had initiated. The impact of this new French painting style on Meifrén was key in the evolution of his work. From then on, the plein air and the desire to capture the light in the landscape were the protagonists of his pictorial approach until the end of his days. His training in Paris and his trips in Italy gave rise to various prizes in the same year, in the Regional Exhibition of Fine Arts in Valencia and the Regional Exhibition in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Catalunya).

In 1883 Meifrén stayed a second time in Paris, a time in which he centred his work on portraying the modernity and dynamism of the City of Light. In the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid in 1887, he was awarded the Third class medal, which demonstrated the critics' favourable reception of his series of landscapes done in the Costa Brava and the Port of Barcelona. 

Meifrén’s painting was consecrated both by being awarded the Medal in the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1889) on the international stage, and his first individual show in the Sala Parés the same year within the local market. What is more, Meifrén formed part of the nucleus of artists associated with Modernism in Catalonia. Together with his friend Santiago Rusiñol (1861–1931), he discovered the magic light of Sitges in 1891 and participated actively in the different Modernist fairs. 

Of a Bohemian and provocative character, Meifrén is a clear example of the nomadic artist, constantly seeking new locations in which to study light, colour and free impression. His life is full of trips the world over in which he received prizes and recognitions, becoming recognized as one of the principal Spanish painters of his time. To the recurrent sojourns in Paris and Majorca, we should add other places, including Sitges (1891), the Canary Islands (1897), Buenos Aires (1900 and 1910), Pontevedra (1908), Chile (1910), Belgium (1910), Italy (1889, 1890 and 1910) and New York (1916).