Joaquim Sunyer

His paintings of this period include street scenes of working-class life. He also produced graphic works influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec and Théophile Steinlen that emphasize urban night life and urban poverty. He was friends with Picasso, and in the early years of the 20th century their works were similar in style and subject. In 1908, Sunyer turned away from Parisian subject matter in favor of the themes that would occupy him for the rest of his life, especially nudes in pastoral landscapes, family scenes, women, and children. He returned to Spain in 1911, establishing himself in his hometown of Sitges. There he painted numerous landscapes, highlighting his preoccupation with capturing Mediterranean light through the use of very light colours, marking a clear rupture with the darker paintings he had executed in Paris. His compositions are noted as an example of balance, though sacrificing technical perfection for the benefit of a more intense evocative power. He was an important influence on younger Catalan artists such as Miró.

The recorded working language is Spanish and Catalan. Works named in the authority record are Cala Forn. Work by Joaquim Sunyer is recorded in the collections of Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, National Gallery of Canada, Art Institute of Chicago, Hispanic Society of America and Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

• Illustration — Landscape by Sunyer, 1913 • Illustration — La sandía (The Watermelon), 1920, oil on canvas, 59 x 71.5 cm, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, exhibited Exposició d'Art francès d'Avantguarda, Galeries Dalmau, Barcelona, 1920