Josep Maria Amat i Virgili — Rural landscape with chicken coop — Pair of oil paintings on panel — First half of the 20th century

Set of two oil paintings on panel by Josep Maria Amat i Virgili (Barcelona, 1881–1944), a Catalan painter, draftsman, and illustrator active during the first decades of the 20th century. Both pieces are signed “Amat” and exhibit a compositional continuity that allows them to be viewed as a pair of complementary landscapes.

The works represent a rural or peripheral setting, featuring small whitewashed buildings, dirt paths, utility poles, vegetation, and a chicken coop populated by several birds. Their painterly treatment, characterized by rapid brushwork and a luminous palette, conveys the spontaneous nature of a landscape study.

In the left panel, a building with a light-colored façade occupies the foreground, while a dirt path leads the eye toward a horizon of small reddish structures. The utility poles and power lines introduce vertical lines that articulate the space and contrast with the irregular shapes of the vegetation.

The right panel expands the rural environment through a small stone building, wooden structures, a grove of trees, and several chickens scattered across the terrain. The brushwork here takes on a particularly synthetic character: the birds are constructed through small dark dabs, while the vegetation is resolved with green touches of varying intensity.

The composition stands out for the contrast between the light surfaces and the denser brushstrokes of greens, grays, and ochres. The artist uses color directly, building the different planes through a combination of broad strokes, luminous highlights, and small linear details.

The presence of utility poles and vernacular buildings gives the scene an interest that transcends the traditional landscape, bringing it closer to the depiction of those intermediate spaces between the countryside and urban centers that underwent significant transformations during the first half of the 20th century.

Both panels retain individual “Amat” signatures, located respectively in the lower right area of the first panel and the upper right of the second. Their arrangement allows for a visual reconstruction of a continuous scene. Although it has not been determined whether their current separation is due to an original conception or a later division, they constitute a pictorial set of special interest due to their compositional relationship.

Josep Maria Amat i Virgili: painting, landscape, and graphic arts

Josep Maria Amat i Virgili (Barcelona, 1881–1944) was a painter, draftsman, designer, and illustrator whose career developed between Catalan Modernism and the first decades of the 20th century.

He began his artistic training in his youth. By 1894, he was already performing drawing and illustration exercises, and by 1899, he had executed various academic studies and pictorial compositions.

His career is particularly interesting for the diversity of disciplines he cultivated. In addition to easel painting, he developed significant work in graphic and advertising design, collaborating with printing workshops and creating advertisements, decorative compositions, and commercial projects.

His documented commissions include work for the Tobella printing house in Barcelona, advertising designs for Catalan establishments and companies, as well as graphic compositions linked to the commercial and industrial spheres.

At the same time, he developed his pictorial production, with special attention to landscapes and views of Catalan towns. In 1912, he produced paintings of La Barceloneta and the port of Barcelona; he later worked on motifs of Cadaqués and Begur, places that reflect his interest in Mediterranean geography and coastal towns.

In 1918, he participated in a group exhibition held at the Palau de Belles Arts in Barcelona. A decade later, from May 4 to 17, 1929, he presented a solo exhibition at La Pinacoteca, one of the galleries linked to the Barcelona art scene of the time.

His activity continued during the thirties and forties, including editorial illustration work. In 1939, he participated in the illustration of Primer libro de amor 1935–1939, by Dionisio Ridruejo, and in 1941, he exhibited at the Galeries Costa in Barcelona.

The presence of his work in institutional collections constitutes another significant reference of his career. The Museu Marítim de Barcelona holds his painting Cap de Santa Cristina, an oil painting created approximately between 1918 and 1925 that documents his dedication to the Costa Brava landscape.

Amat i Virgili belongs to a generation of Catalan artists who developed their work between traditional pictorial practice and the new possibilities of the graphic arts. His production reflects a constant attention to drawing, composition, and the representation of the landscapes and environments of his surroundings.

The everyday landscape in Catalan painting

During the first decades of the 20th century, numerous Catalan artists turned their attention to popular environments, the outskirts of towns, and rural spaces in transformation.

In contrast to the representation of great monuments or idealized views, these motifs allowed for the recording of simple scenes: paths, orchards, whitewashed houses, utility poles, and small agricultural holdings.

This pair of paintings participates in that sensitivity toward the everyday environment. The buildings, vegetation, and birds appear integrated into a freely rendered composition, where the observation of space acquires more importance than descriptive detail.

Technical Sheet

• Author: Josep Maria Amat i Virgili (Barcelona, 1881–1944).

• Title: Rural landscape with chicken coop.

• Set: Two compositionally related paintings.

• Period: First half of the 20th century.

• Technique: Oil.

• Support: Panel.

• Dimensions of the left panel: 52.5 × 33 cm.

• Dimensions of the right panel: 52.5 × 34 cm.

• Combined dimensions: 52.5 × 67 cm, without separation or frames.

• Signatures: Both panels signed “Amat.”

• Conservation status: Both pieces show signs of age, small scuffs, wear along the edges, and minor losses to the paint layer. Of note is a reddish strip on the inner edges, related to the current separation of the panels. The overall readability of the landscape and its chromatic balance are preserved.

• Presentation: Two independent panels, intended for joint display.

Workshop Note

The primary interest of these works lies in their arrangement as a pair of signed paintings that allow for the viewing of the same rural scene. The spontaneity of the brushwork, the utility poles, and the small chicken coop bring a particularly everyday character to the landscape. We recommend presenting them in two identical frames, with a discreet separation that preserves their individuality and allows one to appreciate the continuity of the composition.