Manel Pujol Baladas — Still life with grapes (1990) — Art Miami — Certified impasto work

Created in 1990, Bodegón uvas is a work by Manel Pujol Baladas (Vic, 1947) that transforms the still-life tradition through one of the artist’s most personal visual languages: gestural painting, drawing, collage and a densely worked surface in which the materials become as important as the objects depicted.

A large bunch of grapes occupies the centre of the composition, surrounded by glasses, vessels and fruit that seem to emerge through successive layers of pigment and paper. Pujol Baladas retains enough figurative references for the still life to remain immediately legible, while subjecting each element to an intense process of fragmentation.

Ochres, earth tones and yellows dominate, interrupted by deep greens and a strong red accent in the lower right. The result is a painting of considerable visual density, in which the classical still-life motif becomes a field for experimentation with materials and gesture.

The grapes at the centre of the composition

The bunch of grapes forms the work’s physical and visual centre.

Pujol Baladas does not describe each grape through academic modelling. Small circular shapes, accumulations of paint, lines and variations in colour build an organic mass with a striking presence.

Around this nucleus, the glasses establish more delicate verticals that contrast with the concentration of materials at the centre. Other objects are only partially defined, merging into the background until it becomes difficult to tell where the depicted form ends and the painted surface begins.

This ambiguity between representation and material is one of the work’s most engaging features.

Painting, collage and surface

The composition unfolds across a deliberately uneven surface.

Pujol Baladas incorporates printed papers as collage, partially covered by successive layers of paint. Letters and fragments of text remain visible in places, bringing materials from everyday life into the painting.

Over this base, he applies rapid strokes, dark lines, scraping, impasto and patches of colour that move across the surface in different directions.

The collage is an integral part of the painting’s structure, rather than an added decoration. It contributes to the sense of construction, wear and layering characteristic of Pujol Baladas’s work.

The painting thus invites viewing from two distances: from afar, the still life reappears clearly; close up, the objects dissolve into a complex combination of paper, pigment, drawing and texture.

Colour and visual tension

Unlike other still lifes by the artist that favour darker palettes, Bodegón uvas has a particularly warm luminosity.

The ochre and earth-toned background envelops the composition, while greens, yellows and whites construct the central bunch of grapes. Against these colours, the intense reddish element in the foreground introduces a chromatic break and balances the scene visually.

Black contours and gestural lines prevent the colour from becoming merely decorative. A constant tension exists between the rich palette and a much rougher, more expressive graphic structure.

This combination gives the painting a distinctive character among the artist’s still lifes.

1990: the beginning of a decisive decade

The date 1990 places the work at the beginning of a particularly important decade in Pujol Baladas’s career.

During these years, the artist progressively consolidated a form of painting in which figuration coexists with approaches drawn from Art Informel, gestural expressionism and collage. Everyday objects remain present—fruit, bottles, glasses, books and fish—but become the raw material of painting rather than the ultimate aim of representation.

Bodegón uvas is particularly interesting in this respect: the vocabulary that would characterise many of his compositions in the early 1990s is already clearly recognisable, while the figuration remains especially rich and legible.

Art Miami

The painting belonged to the group of works by Manel Pujol Baladas presented at Art Miami, during the period of his international expansion in the United States.

This exhibition history gives a particularly relevant context to a painting that is itself representative of the turn of the decade in the artist’s production.

Alongside its creation in 1990, the work was subsequently selected for one of the most significant international events in his career.

Its presentation at Art Miami, together with the artist’s individual certificate, is one of the principal documentary features that distinguish the work.

Certificate and documentation

The work is accompanied by an original certificate signed by Manel Pujol Baladas, identified as M.P.B. no. 0122, in which the artist certifies the authorship of Bodegón uvas, its technique, dimensions and date of execution.

The document also records a reference value of 400,000 Mexican pesos, in connection with the SAT—Mexico’s Servicio de Administración Tributaria.

According to information provided directly by the artist, the amounts recorded in these certificates correspond to the reference prices established for his works. The stated amount represents approximately €20,000 as an indicative equivalent, which should be distinguished from the price a work may subsequently achieve on the secondary market.

The Art Miami exhibition history and the individual documentation signed by the artist allow the painting to be contextualised and documented with particular precision.

Work details

Artist: Manel Pujol Baladas
Title: Bodegón uvas
Year: 1990
Technique: Mixed media and collage on canvas
Dimensions: 73 × 60 cm
Format: 20 F
Signature: Signed “M. Pujol Baladas”
Exhibition history: Art Miami
Genre: Contemporary still life
Style: Expressive figuration and material-based Art Informel
Certification: Original certificate signed by Manel Pujol Baladas
Certificate number: M.P.B. 0122
Documented reference value: 400,000 MXN
Subsequent provenance: Private collection; part of a group of 18 certified works by the artist
Condition: Good overall condition

The Workshop’s Note

This work is particularly engaging for Manel Pujol Baladas’s ability to preserve the essence of the still life while completely dismantling its traditional language.

The large bunch of grapes remains recognisable, but as we move closer, the image becomes an accumulation of pigment, printed papers, lines, scraped passages and small bursts of colour. This dual reading—figurative from a distance and almost abstract in detail—aptly captures the artist’s painting at the turn of the decade.

Its early date, 1990, its Art Miami exhibition history, its rich colour and the individual certificate signed by Pujol Baladas make Bodegón uvas a particularly representative and well-documented work from this period.