Antonio Vidal Rolland (1889-1970) - The Flâneur

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. Signed. The flâneur, a mythical figure of fin-de-siècle literature, strolls nonchalantly through the city, observing the pulse of modernity through the smoke of his cigarette, with a mixture of curiosity and detachment. In this portrait by Antonio Vidal-Rolland, the man is no longer the vagabond lost in the Baudelairean crowd, but a sophisticated representative of the fashionable avant-garde of the 1920s. The hat, tilted with studied nonchalance, and the cigarette dangling from his hand, evoke a democratic and summery elegance, characteristic of someone who has elevated leisure to an art form. Vidal-Rolland captures the essence of this subject with a brushstroke that abandons the rigor of the 19th century to embrace a more graphic and assertive stylization, typical of fashion illustration and Art Deco. The model's gaze, imbued with a certain defiance, seems to mock the frenetic pace of the century, asserting the right to pause and stroll. Ultimately, it is the visual testimony of an era when the city became a stage, and man, with his cigarette as his only companion, the privileged spectator of his own effervescence. - Image dimensions without frame: 60 x 85 cm / 78 x 102.5 cm with a custom frame.