Eliseu Meifrèn

Biography of Eliseu Meifrèn ( 1857-1940 )

Eliseu Meifren first wanted to be a doctor, but his attraction for art was finally stronger and he decided to join the Fine Art school in Barcelona, where he studied under Antonio Caba and Ramón Martí Alsina. Then in 1879, he settled in Paris to complete his apprenticeship and sold some landscapes to live.

In 1881, he was a part of the National Exhibition in Madrid, married and returned to Paris for honeymoon. He definitively settled there and began to paint in plein air, like the impressionists. 

His renown increased in 1889 when he did his first solo exhibition at the Sala Parés in Barcelona, presenting more than sixty paintings. This exhibition allowed him to travel in Italy, and more precisely in Naples, Venice and Roma. There he met the circle of Catalan artists formed by Ramon Tusquets and Enrique Serra.

He founded the group Sitges with Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol in 1891 and introduced the impressionist movement in Catalonia. His palette became lighter and he began to paint some little gardens and courtyards with intimate atmosphere. Going over this subject again and again, he made continual evolutions on it, as well as technical than rhythmic. He especially painted patios in Cadaqués where he used to stay during summer from 1886.

At the turn of the century, Meifrén’s reputation was at its apogee. At that time, in the press, one could find his works simultaneously exhibited in Madrid, Paris, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

In 1915, he travelled to United States and was a part of international exhibitions in San Francisco and San Diego. At the end of this year, he exhibited in New York where his paintings were based on landscapes from Majorca. 

He came back to Spain in 1917 and continued to exhibit there. After the civil Spanish war, he still painted for his last exhibition that was opening on the 16 December 1939 and gave him his ultimate success.