Antoni Fabrés i Costa (Barcelona, 1854 – Rome, 1938) was born into a humble family and from a very early age revealed a clear inclination towards drawing and sculpture. In 1875 he was awarded a scholarship to further his sculptural training in Rome. Very early on, however, he realised that it was in the sphere of oil and watercolour painting that he would gain fame, something he had never doubted that he would achieve. Practically as from the outset, his work became acknowledged internationally and was greatly praised for the artist’s virtuosity and attention to detail in the techniques of oil and watercolour painting. He was a highly versatile artist who cultivated a number of genres, ranging from the orientalism of his early years, in the style of Fortuny, to deco orientalism via musketeers, landscapes, portraits and everyday events. He lived in several cities: Rome, Barcelona, Paris, Mexico City and again Rome, where he died. His cosmopolitanism influenced not only his choice of subjects ─in his pursuit of European and American conservative clients ─, but also his style and personal interests. In 1885 he married Júlia Llausàs and the couple had two daughters, Júlia and Glòria, forming a very united family that became accustomed to the changes in Fabrés’s professional career. Thanks to this, he was able to lead a relatively quiet life and devote himself exclusively to painting and teaching art, with which he earned his living. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Fabrés’s style became more naturalist and his subjects, such as poverty or madness, more poignant. In 1926 he donated the major part of his oeuvre to the city of Barcelona, and today this donation forms part of the collections at the Museu Nacional. With this exhibition our intention is to redeem the figure of Fabrés and his oeuvre, of great quality and unknown to most of the public at large. The way the exhibition is arranged, which evokes the aesthetics of the classical picture library, sets out to recreate the atmosphere of Fabrés’s highly personal ateliers.
BARCELONA-ROME-BARCELONA (1875-1894). From the beginnings to glory
PARIS (1894-1902). From virtuosity to naturalism
MEXICO (1902-1907). Master Fabrés’s painting takes a new direction
ROME (1907-1938). Maturity in portraits, return and decline