Pilar Nouvilas (

Castelló d'Empúries Castelló d'Empúries () is a town and municipality in the Alt Empordà in Province of Girona, Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It lies 9 km east of Figueres. History In 1079, Castelló d'Empúries became the capital of the County of Empúries, Emp ...

, March 6, 1854 -

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 1938) was a Spanish painter from

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Early life and education

Pilar Nouvilas i Garrigolas was born in Castelló d'Empúries. She was the daughter of Josep Anton Nouvilas i Prujulà and Maria Garrigolas i Suró. Her Nouvilas ancestors were Empordà landowners. During her youth, she lived in

. Her family's wealthy status allowed Nouvilas to travel around Europe and train in painting, mainly by copying paintings in the museums she was able to visit.

Career

Between 1877 and 1879, she participated in at least four exhibitions, three at the Girona Art Exhibition and one at the Centro Artístico Industrial Figuerense in

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

. At the one in 1877, in

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, she presented a portrait and a landscape, while in the exhibition of 1878 and 1879, she presented the paintings ''Sant Francesc de Paula'' and ''Bodegó''. Unlike other artists, Nouvilas did not want to sell her exhibited works. At that time, few women exhibited; for example, at the exhibition of 1878, there were 55 painters including three women (Nouvilas, Ramona Banquells de Ribó and Boada de Girona). Nouvilas painted

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s, portraits of people close to her,

self-portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

s, and religious paintings. She painted in oil and watercolor, excelling in color and light, rather than drawing.

Personal life

In 1882, she married , fifth Marquis of Vallgornera, who had inherited a large estate in

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

, El Rourell, and

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

subsequent to the death of his older brother. The couple had two children, Eduard de Balle and a daughter who married a diplomat in Mexico. After marriage, Pilar Nouvilas was not known to have exhibited again.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nouvilas, Pilar 1854 births 1938 deaths People from Alt Empordà 19th-century Catalan painters 19th-century Spanish women painters