Celso Lagar

Fairgoers in front of roulottes

Circa 1935

Celso Lagar Arroyo (Ciudad Rodrigo, 1891 - Seville, 1966) was an expressionist Spanish painter of the first generation of the School of Paris, where he lived most of his life. He was influenced by avant-gardes of all kinds, such as cubism and fovism. He painted mainly landscapes and still lives. From his native Ciudad Rodrigo, he went to Madrid to be part of the workshop of one of the best sculptors of the moment, Miguel Blay. During 1910 and 1911 he visited Barcelona. Later he studied sculpture in Paris in 1911 advised by Blay, where he met Joseph Bernard, his friend Amedeo Modigliani and his future wife, the French sculptor, Hortense Begué. It will be precisely at that moment when, gradually, he leaves the sculpture in favor of painting. The outbreak of the First World War will mean, in the life and work of Celso Lagar, the beginning of a new stage. He remained in Barcelona during the war, where he achieved a certain recognition, which allows him to return to Paris. In 1919 he settled permanently in France. His time until the end of the 30s, is the moment of his greatest splendor of the artist. He manages to exhibit his works in the best Parisian galleries, his production is abundant and constant. Both in his residence in Paris and in his rooms, since 1928, in Normandy he will develop an artistic production with very specific themes: still lifes, Spanish reminiscences, landscapes and his celebrated circus scenes. After the period of avant-garde influences of all kinds (Cubism, Fauvism, Vibrationism, Biologism, Simultaneism, Ultraist, ...), Celso Lagar will find his own path marked mainly by Goyesque and Picasian inspiration. Critical and public recognition increases. With the onset of World War II, its golden age will end. Lagar and Hortense are forced to take refuge in the French Pyrenees amid very difficult living conditions. His return after the liberation of Paris did not have such an impact. Lagar will continue with the same themes and techniques before the war but the public is already looking for new content. Gradually, success fades and economic hardships affect the couple. At this time around the year 1950, his wife Hortense enters the hospital Broca and in 1955 dies. Lagar falls into a deep depression and will enter the psychiatric hospital of Sainte Anne. His artistic work ends completely. At that time, by court order, two auctions of the works that remained in his workshop are held, to pay for his stay in the asylum. In October 1964 he returned to Spain living in Seville with a sister until his death on September 6, 1966. His paintings are found in numerous museums throughout Europe, such as: La Rochelle, Goya Museum in Castres, Honfleur (France), Petit-Palais de Geneva, Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, Casa Lis de Salamanca, Carmen Thyssen Museum ( Malaga) and in prestigious collections such as Crane Kallman (London) or Zborowski (Paris).