Antoni Gelabert could never completely devote himself to painting because of his economic situation, yet this did not prevent him from becoming one of the most important Mallorcan painters of the late nineteenth century and the first third of the twentieth. His work is in a Modernist, rather than academic style and he experimented with a stylistic evolution that was the result of his trips to Barcelona, where he came into contact with Modernism, and to Paris, where he assimilated Symbolism, the Synthesist current and Neo-impressionism. Other artists living on the island also had an important impact on his work: Santiago Rusiñol, Joaquim Mir, William Degouve de Nuncques and H. Anglada-Camarasa. Gelabert’s themes embraced the Mallorcan landscapes of Sóller, Deià and Pollença, seascapes, portraits and the urban landscapes of the city of Palma. He exhibited his work for the first time at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid (1901) and held his first individual exhibition at Sala Parés in Barcelona (1902). It was not until 1904 that he held the show at the Círculo Mallorquín in Palma that aroused a range of diverse opinions on his work, which was not fully recognised until after his death.
N.A. /E.B.
