19^th - 20^th century. Spanish

Durancamps was born in Sabadell to a family active in the textile industry who were initially reluctant to support his artistic vocation. His first maestro was the painter Joan Vila i Cinca (1856-1938) after which he had the opportunity to train with Joaquim Mir (1873-1940), who exerted a major influence on his earliest period. Durancamps had his first solo exhibition in 1917 at Galerías Layetanas, and subsequently exhibited regularly in Barcelona, mostly at Sala Parés.

Around 1926 he moved to Paris, where he would eventually open his own gallery, La Fenêtre Ouverte, ten years later. Although he witnessed first-hand the emergence of Surrealism and other avant-garde movements in those days, he never joined any of them. He spent the summer after the Spanish Civil War in Cadaqués, and in 1940 exhibited at Salón Vilches in Madrid. The outbreak of the Second World War led him to return to Barcelona, alternating his life there with sojourns in Cadaqués, although at all times maintaining his connection with the art scene in Madrid.

At the beginning of his career, the influence of the spontaneity and palette of his maestro Joaquim Mir was patent in Durancamps’ work. In his Paris period, he began to lend a lot of attention to tradition and craftsmanship, preparing and priming his own paints and canvases. He was a regular visitor of the Prado museum, where he particularly admired the paintings of the great Baroque masters like Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) and Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), an influence that would be reflected in his choice of subject matters, with still lifes and landscapes being his favourite genres.

Rafael Durancamps enjoyed widespread recognition in Spain and abroad, and his works are on view in the collections of Museu Nacional d´Art de Catalunya, Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, and Museu d´Art de Sabadell.