Manel Pujol Baladas — Still life with fish, book, and bottle (1992) — Art Miami — Large-format certified work

Created in 1992, Bodegón pescado, libro y botella is a large-format work by Manel Pujol Baladas (Vic, 1947), belonging to the group of paintings presented at Art Miami during one of the periods of the artist’s greatest international visibility.

On a surface intensely worked through painting, drawing, material and collage, Pujol Baladas constructs a still life deliberately removed from the traditional genre. The fish, bottle and books remain clearly recognisable, but their forms are fragmented, distorted and absorbed into a painted surface of extraordinary energy.

The result is a composition of considerable presence, dominated by earth tones, blacks, whites and an intense blue that makes the fish one of its principal visual focal points.

A deconstructed still life

Here, Pujol Baladas uses everyday objects as the starting point for painting in which representation and material continually compete for the foreground.

The bottle establishes a powerful vertical axis at the centre, while the open books spread to either side in large, light-coloured areas. The fish, rendered in intense blue with thick dark contours, introduces a particularly forceful colour accent.

The aim is not to reproduce space faithfully. Perspective is compressed, and the objects seem fixed directly to the canvas surface, reinforcing the work’s physical, almost mural character.

Painting, collage and material

One characteristic of this period in Pujol Baladas’s work is the use of printed papers and collage fragments integrated into the painting.

Written words remain partially visible beneath successive layers of pigment, creating a surface in which text, image and material coexist without clear hierarchies.

Impasto, scraping, sweeping strokes and thick black lines intensify the sense of simultaneous construction and destruction. The objects seem to emerge from the material only to merge with it again immediately.

This combination of recognisable figuration and freedom with materials is one of the most personal aspects of the language Pujol Baladas developed in the early 1990s.

The book and the search for knowledge

The presence of books gains a particularly interesting dimension through an inscription handwritten by the artist on the reverse:

“no en tenia prou amb lo que ja sabia”

“He was not satisfied with what he already knew.”

The phrase changes how the composition is read. The book becomes more than a still-life object, acquiring a more personal dimension connected with curiosity, learning and the constant need to broaden one’s knowledge.

This autograph inscription is one of the painting’s most distinctive features and establishes a direct link between the depicted image and a reflection written by Pujol Baladas himself.

Art Miami

The work also has a particularly significant exhibition history: Art Miami.

Its inclusion in the group presented at the fair places the painting within an important moment in Pujol Baladas’s international career and provides context beyond its date of execution.

The work’s language—the combination of figuration, collage, material and strong gestural expression—belongs fully to this period in the early 1990s, when the artist had established a clearly recognisable pictorial identity.

The Art Miami exhibition history, together with its format, date and documentation, distinguishes the painting considerably from other works by the artist offered on the secondary market without a known exhibition record.

Certificate and documentation

The painting is accompanied by an original certificate signed by Manel Pujol Baladas, identified as M.P.B. no. 0126, in which the artist certifies the authorship of Bodegón pescado, libro y botella, its technique, dimensions and date of execution.

The document also records a value of 700,000 Mexican pesos, with reference to the SAT—Mexico’s Servicio de Administración Tributaria.

According to information provided directly by Pujol Baladas, the amounts stated in these certificates correspond to the reference prices established by the artist for his works. The recorded figure is equivalent to approximately €35,000, although it should be distinguished from a work’s subsequent performance on the secondary market.

Together, the certificate, signature, date, autograph inscription and Art Miami exhibition history provide particularly comprehensive documentation for this painting.

Work details

Artist: Manel Pujol Baladas
Title: Bodegón pescado, libro y botella
Year: 1992
Technique: Mixed media and collage on canvas
Dimensions: 75 × 105 cm
Signature: Signed and dated
Inscription on the reverse: “no en tenia prou amb lo que ja sabia”
Exhibition history: Art Miami
Genre: Still life / contemporary figuration
Style: Expressive figuration and material-based Art Informel
Certification: Original certificate signed by Manel Pujol Baladas
Certificate number: M.P.B. 0126
Documented reference value: 700,000 MXN
Subsequent provenance: Private collection; part of a group of 18 certified works by the artist
Condition: Excellent overall condition

The Workshop’s Note

A particularly complete work within Manel Pujol Baladas’s production of the early 1990s.

Visually, it stands out for the extraordinary tension between the blue fish, the bottle’s verticality and the large, light-coloured areas of the open books. Yet it is the autograph inscription on the reverse—“no en tenia prou amb lo que ja sabia”—that gives the composition a particularly personal dimension and makes the book more than a simple still-life element.

The Art Miami exhibition history also adds an important historical aspect within the artist’s international career.

Its large format, material, collage, autograph inscription, exhibition history and individual certificate signed by Pujol Baladas make this one of the best-documented and most evocative works in the group.