Beltrán Bofill – Mediterranean Figures

Born in Badalona, a town North of Barcelona in 1934. Joan Beltrán Bofill was a true passionate Catalan. The Mediterranean sea was one of his first and long-lasting loves; in fact, the Mediterranean inspired him to paint, which eventually became his career. Bofill was a Spanish post-war Luminist, the finest of his generation. He was first introduced into the Findlay Galleries stable of artists in 1978 and has been a valued member of Findlay Galleries ever since.

Bofill and his paintings sit proudly alongside the Mediterranean Masters. His entire body of work stands out as authentic yet fervently original. His understanding and application of techniques from masters who preceded him gave Bofill a strong foundation that balanced against his innovative, radiant style. Along with his peers, Bofill has left us works full of movement, beauty, and life, pulsing with the complex rhythm of the Mediterranean tides themselves.

Bofill’s works are ethereal and romantic. He handles figures as though they were flowers, delicately painting all the colors that sunlight reveals on skin and fabric. He effortlessly blends tree roots into hemlines with brushstrokes fluid like the warm sea at dawn. Bofill insists on the connection between the natural world and humans, mirroring a vine’s curl in a woman’s red hair or the angle of a wild bloom in a hat’s brim. The soft colors of his scenes wrap themselves like gauzy veils around the figures depicted, joining them forever into the composition they become part of.

Regardless of the setting, Beltran Bofill’s paintings have an indescribable quality found in only dreams and memories. His paintings become vessels of time as they graciously allow the viewer to be fully immersed in the unique beauty of his vision.