By Miquel Torner de Semir
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Colorful Modernist Portrait of Two Women in a Mediterranean Interior
Artist: Miquel Torner de Semir
Title: Two Women in a Mediterranean Interior
Medium: Oil and mixed media on canvas
Dimensions: 54 × 65 cm / 21.26 × 25.59 in
Orientation: Landscape
Signature: Signed lower right
Frame: Unframed
Country of origin: Spain
Period: Late 20th century
Style: Modernist, Figurative, Neo-Expressionist
Subject: Female figures, portraiture, interior scene, Mediterranean landscape
Condition: Good vintage condition. The surface presents pronounced impasto, visible texture and intentional irregularities characteristic of the artist’s technique.
Description
A vibrant and highly decorative modern figurative painting by Catalan artist Miquel Torner de Semir, depicting two stylized women within a richly textured Mediterranean interior.
The composition presents one standing woman dressed in vivid red, holding a small turquoise object, while a second female figure appears in profile in the foreground. Their pale faces, large expressive eyes, elongated necks and carefully arranged hairstyles create the enigmatic, timeless presence that defines Torner de Semir’s most recognizable paintings.
Behind the figures, the artist constructs a fragmented interior through architectural forms, dark window-like structures and a distant view of white Mediterranean buildings beneath an intense blue sky. The result combines female portraiture, interior painting and Mediterranean landscape within a single layered composition.
Strong black outlines organize the scene into flattened areas of cobalt blue, crimson red, turquoise, ochre, brown and violet. Thick impasto, graphic marks and collage-like passages give the canvas a tactile, almost sculptural surface. The contrast between the monumental figures and the abstracted background creates both decorative impact and psychological tension.
The painting reflects Torner de Semir’s fascination with Catalan Romanesque frescoes, Gothic portraiture, early Renaissance painting and modern European figuration. The frontal poses, hieratic expressions and simplified forms recall medieval religious imagery, transformed here into a colorful and unmistakably contemporary vision of Mediterranean womanhood.
A particularly representative example of the artist’s mature figurative language, combining expressive female portraiture, bold color, textured surfaces and a sophisticated Mediterranean atmosphere. Its compact dimensions and strong visual presence make it especially suitable for a modern interior, eclectic collection or gallery wall.
About the artist
Miquel Torner de Semir was born in Santa Pau, Girona, in 1938. He studied at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and continued his artistic education at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid. He was also a pupil of Catalan muralist, engraver and illustrator Ricard Marlet.
Torner de Semir developed a deeply personal figurative style rooted in the visual traditions of Catalonia and the wider Mediterranean world. His work draws inspiration from Romanesque mural painting, Gothic art, Italian primitive painters, Renaissance portraiture and the major European artistic movements of the 20th century.
He is especially known for his stylized female figures, characterized by almond-shaped eyes, elongated necks, strongly outlined features and elaborate hairstyles. These mysterious women often inhabit imaginary interiors, theatrical settings or fragmented Mediterranean landscapes.
His compositions combine flattened perspective, saturated color and heavily worked surfaces. Through the use of impasto, graphic lines and collage-like textures, Torner de Semir gives his paintings an almost architectural construction. His figures appear simultaneously ancient and modern, combining the solemnity of medieval icons with the expressive freedom of modern figurative art.
He held his first solo exhibition in Terrassa in 1968 and subsequently exhibited extensively in Spain and abroad, including France, other European countries, the United States and Japan. His distinctive female portraits and Mediterranean compositions have made his work highly recognizable among collectors of Catalan and Spanish modern art.
Pictorial inspiration
The composition evokes the expressive female figures of Pablo Picasso, the chromatic intensity and decorative freedom of Henri Matisse, the poetic atmosphere of Marc Chagall, the elongated elegance of Amedeo Modigliani and the simplified, sculptural forms of Paul Gauguin. Its bold outlines, flattened perspective and Mediterranean palette also connect the work with modern European figurative painting and the tradition of Catalan Romanesque art.
Colorful modernist painting, female portrait painting, two women painting...
Category
1990s Contemporary Barcelona - Art
