Francesc Xavier Valls Subirà (18 September 1923 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ci ...

– 16 September 2006 in Barcelona) was a Spanish painter who lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

most of his life. He specialised in

still life A still life (plural: 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, m ...

s. His work can be found in museums in Spain. He was the father of former French Prime Minister

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

Early life

Xavier Valls was born on 18 September 1923 in

, Spain.Josep Casamartina I Parassols
Xavier Valls, pintor
''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

'', 18 September 2006Galerie Claude Bernard: Xavier Valls
His father, Magí Valls, served on the editorial board of

El Matí EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

, a Catholic Catalan newspaper. He learned the visual arts from the Swiss sculptor

Charles Collet Flight Lieutenant Charles Herbert Collet (4 February 1888 – 19 August 1915) was a British naval airman during the First World War, regarded as one of the best naval airmen of his day. Early life and education Charles Collet was born in India ...

and the Spanish painter

Jaume Busquets Jaume Busquets i Mollera (Girona, 1903 – Barcelona, 1968) was a Spanish sculptor and painter of the ''noucentisme'' generation from Catalonia. He was the youngest son of a family of four artist brothers from Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Busquets ...

in the 1930s.Virginia Hernandez
Miradas al fresco... con Xavier Valls
'' El Mundo'', 17/05/2012

Career

Valls started his career as a designer for Ramon Sunyer, a jeweller. He then worked for architects Lluís Bonet Garí,

Isidre Puig Boada Isidre Puig Boada (*Barcelona, 1891 –† Barcelona, 1987) was a Spanish Catalan architect born in Barcelona in 1890, who belonged to the small and select group of architects that were connected to Antoni Gaudí and collaborated with him on his ...

and Francesc Folguera i Grassi as well as designer Santiago Marco. In 1946, he was a co-founder of the Cercle Maillol at the French Institute of Barcelona with Charles Collet, Suzanne Alemany, Alfred Figueras and Bernard Sanjuan. He moved to Paris in 1949 thanks to a scholarship from the French Institute of Barcelona, and decided to stay. By 1953, his paintings were exhibited at the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

. Meanwhile, he worked with

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

on stained glass designs. His work was exhibited in the art galleries of art dealers Henriette Gomès and

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term ''milieu intérieur'', and the a ...

. He was the recipient of the Prix Drouant in 1980. A year later, in 1981, the Musée Ingres in

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, an ...

organised an exhibition solely about his work. Three years later, in 1984, the

Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is located in Chapultepec park, Mexico City, Mexico. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and international contemporary a ...

in Madrid added his 1974 painting, ''Pêches et pichet'' to their collection. He became an Officer of the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

in 1989. In 2003 he published his memoirs under the title ''La meva capsa de Pandora'' ("My Pandora's box").

Personal life

He married Luisangela Galfetti in 1958.Matthieu Hoffstetter
La famille suisse de Manuel Valls
, ''Bilan'', 1 April 2014 Four years later, in 1962, they had two children: a son,

, who has served as the Prime Minister of France since 2014, Although they lived in Paris, they summered in Barcelona every year.

Death

He died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

in Barcelona in 2006. He was only diagnosed one month before his death. He was eighty-two years old.

Posthumously

Three of his paintings were auctioned by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

in London in 2009.Christie's: Xavier Valls
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valls, Xavier 1923 births 2006 deaths Artists from Barcelona Artists from Paris Spanish painters Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Spanish memoirists Deaths from colorectal cancer 20th-century Spanish painters 20th-century Spanish male artists Spanish male painters 20th-century memoirists