Lot 39: Carlos Nadal (1917-1998) Le salon rouge

Le salon rouge
signed 'cNadal' (lower right); signed again, dated, titled and stamped with artist's atelier stamp 'cNadal 72/ LA SALON ROUGE' (on the reverse); stamped twice again with artist's atelier stamp (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
54.4 x 65.5cm (21 7/16 x 25 13/16in).
Painted in 1972

PROVENANCE
Private collection, England.

EXHIBITED
London, The Solomon Gallery, 1987.
Leeds, The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds, Carlos Nadal: Paintings in Yorkshire Collections, June - August 2011.
London, Bonhams, Carlos Nadal: Paintings in English Collections, a non-selling exhibition, August - September 2011, no.28.

LITERATURE
J. Duncalfe, Carlos Nadal 1917-1998, An English Perspective, Harrogate, 2010, (illustrated p.254).

This work is sold with a photo-certificate of authenticity from the Comité Nadal.

Despite the tumultuous times in which he had grown up, Carlos Nadal's works always express an optimistic sense of wellbeing and joie de vivre. Whilst his subjects would range from bright salons overlooking the Mediterranean, crowded beaches, country houses and teeming cityscapes, each scene strikes a happy and familiar chord in the viewer.

Although close friends with contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Oscar Dominguez, Nadal was never tempted to stray too far into abstraction but remained faithful instead to representation and his Fauvist influences. His enduring love of the Fauvist movement is shown in the vibrant colour palette of the present work, which also exhibits his characteristic bold outlines, energetic brushwork and tilted perspective, inviting the viewer into the space.