Emilio Grau Sala Spanish, 1911-1975

Emilio Grau Sala, son of the artist Juan Grau Miro, was born in Barcelona in 1911.
Grau Sala studied Fine Art at the Academy of Barcelona. He made his debut at the Salon des Humoristes in Paris at an extremely young age and had his first one-man show in Barcelona at the age of 18.

He went on to have shows of his work throughout the world – Paris, Madrid, London, Buenos Aires, New York. Having travelled widely, he established himself permanently in Paris in 1936 and in the following year participated in the important exhibition at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, where he was awarded the first ever Carnegie Prize.

He went on to become a member of the French Salon group of Maurice Boitel.
In Paris he designed numerous theatre sets and costumes, he illustrated books, designed interiors for restaurants, and above all continued to paint and develop his own unique mannerisms.

He worked in a figurative style influenced by Post-Impressionist French artists like Dufy and Bonnard, using a loose and spontaneous technique to create luminous compositions full of lyricism.

A Spanish master of the Paris School, Emilio Grau-Sala is remembered for his magnificent realist scenes oils and watercolours. He brought alive the Paris of the demi-monde, the bohemian and artistic quarters, with a gentle charm and a distinctively Spanish taste that made his work both immediately recognisable and hugely popular. He died in 1975.

Today his paintings are in numerous public collections throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and Museum of Contemporary Art, Segovia, Spain as well as the museums of Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Honfleur, Philadelphia, La Rochelle, Sceaux and Tossa del Mar.