Joan Vilarrubias
Joan Vilarrubias, a hyperrealist painter born in Igualada, in the province of Barcelona, emigrated to Béarn in southwestern France at the age of nine. Having lived in London in the late 1960s, he witnessed the early stages of hyperrealism, a movement that emerged in the United States in the 1970s. Upon returning to France, he gained recognition for his creativity, particularly through his monumental paintings, which earned him numerous state commissions without ever fully abandoning easel painting. Joan Vilarrubias later established his studio in Bages, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, thus taking a step closer to his native Catalonia while never entirely leaving the city of Pau, where he passed away on June 28, 2020. Here, you will find a non-exhaustive selection of his works, showcasing the remarkable talent he possessed.
Joan Vilarrubias was fascinated by the human being, by their works, their emotions, and by those anonymous individuals who imprint themselves on our memory through the objects they cherished or behind the doors and windows where they experience unknown passions, moments of joy, and sometimes drama. Yet already, human creations bear the wrinkles of time, revealing a timeless and diffuse soul that ennobles them. The gazes of these beings grow intense and compel us to question ourselves.