Guillermo Vargas Ruiz (1910-1990) - Madrid: The Ritz Hotel (cloud Effect)

Oil on canvas. Original canvas. The melancholy of a rainy spring morning permeates the elegant dome of the Ritz Hotel, which overlooks the ceaseless traffic in front of the statue of Neptune on the old Paseo del Prado. Guillermo Vargas Ruiz is one of the most solid and lyrical figures in 20th-century Spanish painting, a master who knew how to combine the legacy of Impressionism with a serene and personal introspection. After perfecting his art at the School of Arts and Crafts in Seville and achieving technical excellence at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts San Fernando in Madrid—a training that culminated in a revelatory stay in the United States—Vargas Ruiz developed a pictorial language where the spontaneity of the brushstroke and the mastery of drawing combine to create atmospheres of profound intimacy. A renowned engraver and professor, his palette of ochre tones and his mastery of impasto earned him the highest distinctions, including the gold medal from the Círculo de Bellas Artes and the second medal at the National Fine Arts Exhibition. His work, now held in institutions such as the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and the Museum of Contemporary Art, testifies to an artist who, beyond the mere representation of objects, captured the very essence of the world, elevating portraiture and composition to a level of timeless elegance. - Image dimensions without frame: 54 x 37 cm / 70 x 53 cm with exclusive custom frame.