Rafael Duran Benet

Spring Garden oil painting european landscape Spain France

c.1980

Rafael Duran Benet was a Catalan painter. He began painting during adolescence, by the hand of his uncle, who had the same name, and who received influences in his characteristic chromatic conception, and the artists Manolo Hugué and Rafael Llmona. In the 50s, he settled in Cadaqués, where his work acquired a marked Mediterranean character and where he treated artists like Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso. In 1958, he presented his first solo exhibition, in the Sala Vayreda in Barcelona. Then there would be 30 more, mainly in Barcelona (many in Sala Parés, to which he was linked all his life), Madrid and Cadaqués. In 2011, the City Council of his home city dedicated a retrospective in the Sala Muncunill. Benet also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Barcelona, Paris, London, Houston and Los Angeles, among others. Throughout his trajectory, he obtained several awards, among which the Henri Forman prize of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts of Paris, in 1980. The favorite themes of Benet were landscapes, marinas and still lifes, with a style close to Impressionism and a particular treatment of color. The Museum of Terrassa has two works by Benet in his funds.