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The Olot school of landscape painting is a group of painters that created an artistic style in the second half of the 19th century. It includes not simply artists from Olot (in Catalonia, Spain), but all artists whose artworks were inspired by the countryside of Olot. By extension, artists connected with Olot and its comarca, Garrotxa.
In Catalonia, the proliferation of painting coincided with the Restoration, a period marked by economic prosperity that favored the bourgeoisie which was the motor of the cultural renaissance of Catalan nationalism. This bourgeoisie had considerable influence in the arts; it sought art that was realistic, but simultaneously pleasing, elegant, and optimistic, and preferred painting over other artistic disciplines. During this period, several schools of art began and were consolidated, among them the Olot school.
The Olot school of landscape painting is similar to the Barbizon school. It was formed by Joaquim and Marian Vayreda with the assistance of Ramón Martí Alsina. From this tradition emerged a new artistic concept: creating multiple versions of the Olot countryside, where the treatment of light and chromatic variations were important elements. The Olot school used the countryside of Garrotxa as a source of inspiration for their work, but with stylistic freedom. Vayreda's paintings attracted the attention of artists including Laureà Barrau, Enric Galwey, Joan Brull, Lluís Masriera, Modest Urgell, Ramon Casas, and Santiago Rusiñol, who went to Olot and also painted depictions of the countryside.
The Olot school was supported by the founding of the Olot Art School (Escola d'Art d'Olot) in 1783 by bishop Tomás de Lorenzana, and also by the creation of workshops dedicated to the reproduction of religious images. The first workshop that was dedicated to this work, "El Arte Cristiano", was founded in 1880. The industry of religious image making expanded considerably starting around 1900 in Olot, and became an important part of the city's economy. Today, the old Arte Cristiano factory has been converted into the Museum of the Saints (Museo de los Santos).
The Olot school was institutionalized by painter Josep Berga i Boix, who served as director of the Olot Artistic and Cultural Center (Centre Artístic-Cultural d'Olot) (founded by Vayreda) in 1869 and later as director of the Public School of Drawing (Escola Pública de Dibuix) from 1877 to 1914. Annual exhibitions were organized first by the Artistic and Cultural Center and then by other entities.
Numerous other artists later continued the traditions of the Olot school, often training at the Public School of Drawing (called the Escola de Belles Arts i Oficis starting in 1939) under the direction of Ivó Pascual, Martí Casadevall, Bartomeu Mas y Collellmir, and Joan Vilà i Moncau. Other artists belonging to the movement include Josep Berga i Boada, Josep Clarà, Melcior Domenge, and Josep Pinós.
The Drawing Festival (Fira del Dibuix) is celebrated annually in Olot on the Day of Sant Lluc. This festival brings together many artists that sell their works directly to the public. The festival was conceived particularly for the sale of works on paper, such as sketches, but recently it has been possible to find artworks in many media.
Since the 2003–2004 academic year, the Olot Art School (Escola d'Art d'Olot) has been called the Superior School of Art and Design (Escola d'Art i Superior de Disseny), adding a degree in interior design; a graphic design degree was added in 2007–2008. Today, there are more than 400 students enrolled, particularly from the neighboring comarcas.
Today, the term "Olot school"—or particularly the term "Olot school of landscape painting" ("escuela paisajística de Olot" or "escola paisatgística d'Olot")--is not well-accepted, because not all artists connected with Olot paint landscapes, and not all the artists connected with the school work or live in the city of Olot.
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Olot is the capital city of the 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 municipality is part of the Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park. Olot is also well known for its cultural activity, with historical art movements like Olot school or factories of religious imagery, which contributed to the location in the city of the main Design and Arts & Crafts school of the province of Girona, the Escola d'Art i Superior de Disseny d'Olot.
Garrotxa is a comarca (county) in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. Its population in 2016 was 55,999, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot. It is roughly equivalent to the historical County of Besalú.
The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Pl Espanya, the museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings, and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929. The Palau Nacional, which has housed the Museu d'Art de Catalunya since 1934, was declared a national museum in 1990 under the Museums Law passed by the Catalan Government. That same year, a thorough renovation process was launched to refurbish the site, based on plans drawn up by the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegmann, who were later joined in the undertaking by Josep Benedito. The Oval Hall was reopened in 1992 on the occasion of the Olympic Games, and the various collections were installed and opened over the period from 1995 to 2004. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya was officially inaugurated on 16 December 2004. It is one of the largest museums in Spain.
Ramón Martí i Alsina was a Spanish painter in the Realistic style.
The Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park is a natural park area covering a Holocene volcanic field in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. The volcanos, of which there are about forty within the park, are no longer active, with the last eruption (Croscat) occurring about 11,000 years ago. However, the region is still seismically active, and a large earthquake in 1428 caused damage to buildings and twenty deaths in Barcelona, 90 kilometres (56 mi) to the south. More recent earthquakes in 1901 and 1902 caused shaking but little damage.
Serenity is a public artwork by Catalan artist Josep Clarà i Ayats, located at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., United States. Serenity was originally surveyed as part of the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey in 1993.
La Vall de Bianya is a municipality of the comarca of Garrotxa, Catalonia. It is formed by eleven villages scattered around the Bianya and Bac valleys. The seat of the municipal government is in L'Hostalnou de Bianya, and the village with more inhabitants is La Canya. This latter village is divided between the municipalities of La Vall de Bianya and Sant Joan les Fonts. The municipality is part of the Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park and the Alta Garrotxa Consortium.
Josep Clarà i Ayats was a Spanish sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
The Museu de la Garrotxa is a museum in Olot, Catalonia, Spain. It is associated with the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona; the other institutions in this association are the Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer and the Cau Ferrat (Sitges). The museum is housed in an 18th-century neoclassical building designed by architect Ventura Rodríguez.
Joaquim Vayreda i Vila was a Spanish landscape painter. He was originally influenced by the Barbizon school, but later became one of the founders of the Olot school.
The Croscat is a volcano in the comarca of Garrotxa, Catalonia, Spain. It is both the youngest and highest volcano in the Iberian Peninsula, with the last eruption dated back to about 14,000 years Before Present. The volcanic cone has a horseshoe shape, and its northeastern flank was quarried for volcanic gravel until the early 1990s, exposing the internal structure of the cone from top to bottom. The volcano is located in the Garrotxa volcanic field, a Quaternary volcanic field also known as Olot volcanic field, as part of the protected area of the Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park.
Lluís Rigalt i Farriols was a Spanish landscape painter and graphic artist.
Marian Vayreda i Vila (1853-1903) was a Carlist soldier and activist, a painter and a Catalan writer. He is recognized as key representative of Catalan cultural renaissance of the late 19th century. He is particularly acknowledged for his 1904 novel, La Punyalada, declared one of the best Catalan literary works of all time. Politically Vayreda is considered a typical case of an identity located in-between Carlism and emerging Spain's peripheral nationalisms.
Enric Galwey i Garcia or, in Spanish, Enrique Galwey y García was a Spanish painter, associated with the Olot school of landscape painting.
Josep Berga i Boix was a Spanish landscape painter; influenced by the Barbizon school and one of the founders of the Olot school. In his later years he was known as Avi Berga.
The Olot Saints Museum opened in 2007 in Olot (Girona), and is devoted to housing items related to the craft of creating religious imagery. With the aim of broadening its appeal, it also includes other crafts, popular and traditional culture, and the life and work of Marian Vayreda, one of the founders of the first workshops to make religious figurines in the city, along with his brother Joaquim and Josep Berga i Boix. The workshop was known as, "Arte Cristiano".
Anna Manel·la or Anna Manel·la i Llinàs was a Spanish and Catalan sculptor and painter. She was known for her figures representing lost childhood. In 2022, the Museu de la Garrotxa devoted a monographic exhibition to her work: "If I could. Anna Manel·la (1950-2019)." Also in 2022, a group of friends published the book Anna Manel·la. La dona i el mur, which is a compilation of texts discussing the artist's life and works.
The Olot to Girona Railway was a 1,000 mm gauge railway line that operated over 54.8 kilometres (34.1 mi) of track between Olot and Girona, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The line crosses the Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park and follows the valleys of the Fluvià, Brugent and Ter rivers. It opened in stages from 1895 to 1911, and closed in 1969.
