By Antoni Pitxot
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Title: The Petrified Origin
Artist: Antoni Pitxot i Soler (1934–2015)
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 25.6 x 31.9 in (65 x 81 cm)
Date: 1967
Condition: Unframed
Signature: Signed lower right: Pitxot
Provenance: Private collection
Notes: Early work from Pitxot’s mature period, featuring the symbolic and meticulously rendered stone forms that would define his artistic identity.
📝 Work Description
In The Petrified Origin, Antoni Pitxot presents a haunting and timeless vision of a single, eroded rock suspended in a dreamlike, undefined space. The stone, modeled with sculptural precision, appears to float over a subtly reflective surface, devoid of background or narrative context. Its porous texture, cracks, and shadows evoke a fossilized memory — a silent relic of geological time.
Painted in 1967, this piece exemplifies Pitxot's unique visual language, developed through his practice of collecting stones along the Costa Brava and transforming them into anthropomorphic and symbolic compositions. The result is both surreal and solemn, an ode to nature’s memory and the enduring presence of the inanimate.
👤 About the Artist
Antoni Pitxot i Soler (born in Figueres, 1934 – died in Barcelona, 2015) was a Catalan painter deeply rooted in the surrealist tradition. Coming from an artistic family —his uncle was Ramon Pichot, a friend of Picasso and Dalí— Pitxot trained as a draughtsman and painter from a young age. In the 1960s, he settled in Cadaqués, where he developed his distinct artistic universe.
His paintings revolve around stone as a symbol of permanence, transformation, and memory. Pitxot created sculptural assemblages from real coastal stones and later immortalized them in oil on canvas. His works often hint at human figures, ancient myths, and allegories of time.
🎭 Connection with Salvador Dalí
Pitxot was not only a close friend of Salvador Dalí but also one of his closest collaborators. Dalí admired his work and invited him to co-design the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres. After Dalí’s death...
Category
1960s Surrealist Peter Ellenshaw Abstract Paintings
