Pau Rigalt facts for kids

Pau Rigalt i Fargas (born in Barcelona in 1778, died there in 1845) was a talented Catalan artist. He was a painter and also a scenographer, which means he designed and created the scenery for plays and operas. He was one of the first artists in Catalonia to use the Neoclassicism style, which was a popular art movement that looked back to the art of ancient Greece and Rome.

Life and Art of Pau Rigalt

Pau Rigalt learned his art skills at the Escola de la Llotja in Barcelona. His teachers included Pere Pau Montaña i Placeta [ca] and Joseph Flaugier [ca]. After his training in Barcelona, he continued to study art in Madrid.

Time During the Peninsular War

During the Peninsular War, a big conflict in Spain, Pau Rigalt lived in Vilanova i la Geltrú. While there, he decorated several homes. One important house he worked on belonged to the Llopis de Sitges family. Today, this house is known as the Can Llopis Romanticism Museum. He also decorated the inside of the Casa del Poeta Cabanyes [ca].

Return to Barcelona and Teaching

In 1816, Pau Rigalt moved back to Barcelona. He started working at the Teatre de la Santa Creu. Here, he was in charge of decorations and the special machines used for stage effects.

In 1821, he left Barcelona again because of a serious illness called yellow fever. He went to Manlleu and painted some sets for a theater in Torelló.

A few years later, in 1825, he became a professor of drawing at La Llotja, the same school where he had studied. He took over from Bonaventura Planella [ca]. Pau Rigalt was also asked to decorate the school building itself.

His Works and Legacy

You can see some of Pau Rigalt's paintings at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Some of his drawings are also part of a collection owned by the art critic Raimon Casellas.

Pau Rigalt's son, Lluís Rigalt, also became a famous painter, following in his father's footsteps.

Images for kids

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  Group of draftsmen and topographers, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

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  Sant Jeroni de la Vall d'Hebron, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

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  Pastoral