Pere Farrarons — View of Tiana, 1983 — Watercolor and drawing on paper

A small panoramic view of Tiana, created in 1983, which preserves the charm of Mediterranean villages and the intimate character of a hand-illustrated greeting card.

This watercolor, signed Farrarons and dated in Tiana in 1983, depicts a cluster of houses with reddish roofs, surrounded by greenery and presided over by a church with a tall bell tower.

The composition offers a synthetic and luminous vision of the urban landscape. The buildings are outlined with simple black strokes, while soft washes of blue, green, and earthy tones provide depth, atmosphere, and warmth. The vastness of the sky contrasts with the compact network of buildings, creating a scene of balance and serenity.

The church serves as the main visual landmark. Its dominant position and the layout of the structures suggest a representation of the historic center of Tiana, a town in the Maresme region of Barcelona. The ensemble evokes the landscape of a town that, despite its proximity to Barcelona, has preserved a good portion of its historical and Mediterranean identity.

The work presents additional interest due to its medium: the paper is folded like a card and contains a handwritten greeting inside with the words "Bones Festes!" ("Happy Holidays!"), accompanied by several signatures and the inscription "Mataró, 1984." This particularity allows the watercolor to also be understood as an object of personal correspondence, used to convey well wishes during the holidays. The difference between the date the landscape was executed and the date of the greeting suggests that the composition was created the year before it was used as a card.

The signature at the bottom appears to correspond to the surname Farrarons, accompanied by the inscription "Tiana 1983." Although the work is identified as being by Pere Farrarons, there is currently no sufficiently verified biographical information available about the artist.

Technical Data Sheet

• Author: Pere Farrarons (proposed identification; signed "Farrarons").

• Title: View of Tiana (descriptive title).

• Date: 1983.

• Location depicted: Tiana, Barcelona.

• Technique: Watercolor and drawing in black on paper. Exact material of the outline pending determination.

• Dimensions: 15 × 19.5 cm.

• Signature: Inscription in the lower left corner, apparently "Farrarons / Tiana 1983".

• Particularities: Paper folded as a greeting card. Inside, it features the handwritten message "Bones Festes!", several signatures, and the inscription "Mataró, 1984."

• Conservation status: The support shows yellowing and small scattered oxidation spots, especially visible in the margins. The watercolor retains good legibility, and the colors are apparently stable. The crease from its use as a greeting card is visible.

Workshop Note

Small watercolors have a special quality: they can preserve, with very few resources, the memory of a place and a specific moment.

In this view of Tiana, the houses, trees, and bell tower are reduced to their essential features, yet they maintain the recognizable atmosphere of a Mediterranean town. The "Bones Festes!" greeting, dated in Mataró in 1984 and preserved inside the paper, adds interest that transcends the purely pictorial: the work preserves a small personal history, inseparable from its artistic character.