Carlos Nadal Joie de Vivre
19th June - 26 July 2025 th
“Look up and around, not down at the pavement, as so many people do. Make time to enjoy the day and feast off the joie de vivre.”
- Carlos Nadal
STERN PISSARRO GALLERY
FOREWORD
I was delighted to hear that an exhibition of the French-born Spanish painter Carlos Nadal will be held at Stern Pissarro Gallery, where visitors can see a grand selection of previously unseen Nadal works from a private collection alongside paintings that have appeared in exhibitions across the U.K. and Europe. This is a great opportunity to add a work by this most exciting Expressionist painter to your collection.
Nadal’s early life was extraordinary. Born in Paris in 1917 to Spanish parents, he grew up in the Montmartre studio of his father, Santiago Nadal, who ran a commercial painting workshop.
After returning from the Great War, Santiago like many French artists of the day was deeply engaged in Paris’s celebrated café-society culture, where painters drifted in and out of each other’s studios to exchange ideas and gossip.
Nadal working at the studio Nr Barcelona 1970s The Nadal Archive
In his youth, Nadal would often play and draw on the workshop floor. During this period, several artists who are now considered Fauvist masters Braque, Léger, Dufy, Picasso, and Utrillo encouraged him to paint.
In his later life, Nadal returned to Barcelona after fighting in the Spanish Civil War. He lost his father during this time, but received support and encouragement from Picasso, whom he had known since childhood.
This catalogue even includes a photograph of Nadal visiting Picasso at his Vallauris villa in 1954.
In 1996 an eminent critic dubbed Nadal “the last of the Fauves,” reflecting his first-hand links to the original Expressionist circle. Indeed, at this time he was among the very few 20th-century artists still alive who could claim such direct connections.
Carlos Nadal with Pablo Picasso, 1954 The Nadal Archive.
Courtesy of The Picasso Museum Barcelona.
“Since painting does not say what I am, I shall be what I paint”
Nadal working on a large format painting Sitges 1990s.
There are many good painters in the world, however, there is only one Carlos Nadal. Though he is sometimes compared with Dufy or Utrillo, Nadal cultivated a distinctly naïve-expressionist style all his own. His interior scenes are especially charming: viewers might spot a painted homage to Matisse, Léger, or Picasso hanging in one of his imagined salons. These works induce the onlooker to keep looking deeper and deeper into the world of Nadal. Whether depicting landscapes, marine vistas, or domestic interiors, Nadal’s canvases create a light-hearted joy and beauty which can be enjoyed by collectors who are driven to investigate more.
Nadal experimented freely with media. While he began with oils, pencil, watercolour, and gouache, he later combined traditional materials with mixed media whenever they produced the effect he sought. He often painted multiple versions of favourite subjects, each with its own nuance.
Good art should evoke in one a desire to look, to enjoy, and perhaps possess. I have always found the first instinct that draws you to a work is usually the right one.
John Duncalfe,
Author and Collector Member of Le Comite Nadal
Carlos Nadal at John Duncalfe’s Flat. Little Venice, 1987.
The Nadal Family Archive
Les bateaux, 1990
60 x 73 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
89 x 116 cm (35 x 45 ⁵/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Salon Rojo, 1992
Oil on canvas
Bains de mer, 1995
60 x 73 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Concert, 1981
65 x 54 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 21 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Plage du nord, 1983
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 73 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
65 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Chez Marguerite, circa 1987
Acrylic on canvas
Sitges fantastique
54 x 65 cm (21 ¹/₄ x 25 ⁵/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
À 30km de Paris, 1985
54 x 73 cm (21 ¹/₄ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
49 x 79 cm (19 ¹/₄ x 31 ¹/₈ inches)
Signed and dated upper left, nadal 71
Boxeo, 1971
Acrylic on canvas
La grande place, circa 1980
81 x 100 cm (31 ⁷/₈ x 39 ³/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Bouquet de fleurs, 1988
73 x 92 cm (28 ³/₄ x 36 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Le port, 1982
54 x 65 cm (21 ¹/₄ x 25 ⁵/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Teatre, circa 1990
73 x 92 cm (28 ³/₄ x 36 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Tardor, circa 1987-89
65 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
Acrylic on canvas
50 x 65 cm (19 ³/₄ x 25 ⁵/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Playa y nubes, 1986
Acrylic on canvas
65 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, nadal 80
Bajo Panadés, 1980
La grande fenêtre ouverte, 1992
Acrylic on canvas
65 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Descanso, 1982
60 x 73 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 49 cm (15 ³/₄ x 19 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, nadal 76
Untitled, 1976
Acrylic on canvas
Interior d'Estudi, 1987
Acrylic on canvas
65 x 54 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 21 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
La Maison à Trouville
Oil and mixed media on canvas
65.1 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Signed, titled and stamped with the artist's atelier stamp on the reverse
Executed circa 1980
au reflets, 1990
60 x 73 cm (23 ⁵/₈ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Chambre
Acrylic on canvas
Untitled, circa 1949-50
Oil on canvas
65 x 81 cm (25 ⁵/₈ x 31 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower left, carlos nadal
Armenonville (Arrabai Paris), 1969
81 x 100 cm (31 ⁷/₈ x 39 ³/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, Nadal
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse
Oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm (36 ¹/₄ x 28 ³/₄ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, nadal 76
Pomes i Peres, 1976
Oil on canvas
Mañuela, 1980
Oil and mixed media on canvas
73 x 92 cm (28 ³/₄ x 36 ¹/₄ inches)
Signed and dated lower right, nadal 80
Signed, dated and titled on the reverse
Le Paddock, 1956
Watercolour and ink on paper
31 x 38 cm (12 ¹/₄ x 15 inches)
Signed and dated lower right, nadal 56
Stamped with the Atelier mark on the backboard
Sitges
Gouache and felt tip on paper
32 x 45 cm (12 ⁵/₈ x 17 ³/₄ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Executed circa 1980
New York
Felt tip and gouache on paper
26 x 22.5 cm (10 ¹/₄ x 8 ⁷/₈ inches)
Signed lower right, nadal
Executed circa 1980
Carlos nadal in his studio at Sitges, 1980s
All works are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
STERN PISSARRO GALLERY
66 St James’s Street, SW1A 1NE London
+44 (0)20 7629 6662
stern@pissarro. com www.pissarro.art
