Catalan Abstract School (c. 1970) - ¡catalunya!

Oil and impasto on canvas. Original canvas, signed.

In the nationalist and mythical narrative of Catalonia’s origins, it is impossible to separate the raw power of this 1977 work from the legendary founding of the Four Bars. The historical tradition, popularized during the Romantic era and still alive in the collective imagination, recounts how the Frankish king Charles the Bald, after a bloody battle against the Normans, dipped his fingers into the mortal wounds of Count Guifré the Hairy to trace, with the hero’s still-warm blood on his golden shield, the four red stripes that would give rise to the Senyera (the Catalan flag). In this impasto painting, the rough technique and direct application with a palette knife seem to reinterpret this epic and visceral gesture: the red paint is not merely a pigment, but the very representation of spilled blood dripping and clinging violently to the golden background.

- Unframed image dimensions: 41 x 63 cm / 60 x 82 cm with an exclusive custom frame.