Martí Vergoñós

Martí Vergoñós, who is self-taught, was one of the painters of the Empordà landscape who developed his work in the 1970’s.

The artist began in Palafrugell as a set designer, decorator and illustrator of ceramics in the company Vilà Clarà in La Bisbal de l’Empordà, although while travelling he had the opportunity to work with the decoration of porcelain in Limoges.

In any case, his artistic beginning takes him back to the beaches of Calella de Palafrugell, its boats and its fishermen. On this occasion, local artists will take part, including Josep Puig and Maria Ribot and Modest Cuixart, among others.

In 1976, the artist and Dídac García opened a gallery in Palafrugell to exhibit their work. At that time, Modest Cuixart was waiting for him to continue working.

The landscape of the late sixties will show us an impressionist and post-impressionist aesthetic typical of painters in the area.

In 1976, he moved to Roses and focused his compositions on the Cap de Creus area, the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà area, the bay of Roses and the villages of the Empordà plain.

At that time, the artist began to focus on the details of the vegetation, the trees and in a series of works he represented the door of the fishermen’s hut in Cala Jóncols. In this process he would approach expressionism. The figures will show an air of naivete.

During the 80’s and 90’s, the rode models of group 69, who represent the renewal of the Empordà school, linked to a mythological and magical Empordà, focused on nature.

Vergoñós shows a landscape with low angle and a thin brushstroke that appears within a kind of stage. The market scenes, the bars, the fish market, and above all, the images of the Roses carnival, bring it closer to folk art, stained with pigment, with touches of Fauvism.

Vergoñós is a lively painter, connected to people and their daily lives, a friend of fishermen and the people around him.

He is a painter with a romantic gaze, stained with pigment, which reflects an Empordà that has not yet undergone the transformation of the landscape due to tourism and excessive construction.