Trompe L'oeil Still Life of Pears on Tile Floor

Item is in excellent condition and has only been displayed in a gallery setting. Item includes hand carved wood frame.

Growing up in an artistic household paved the way for Leon Reina to follow in his father’s footsteps.  The son of still life artist Leon Olmo, Reina has become one of the better known painters of Seville’s new generation of artists.  For many years, the emerging art from Seville has been associated with grace and tradition rooted in domestic values.  

Warm and romantic light accentuates the volumes seen in the forms of Reina’s still lifes, which are inspired by the sweet aromas of nearby fruits and flowers that fill the room of Reina’s studio.  A romantic at heart, Leon is strictly regimented and technical when it comes to creating a work of art.  First committing an image to memory, Leon draws the composition where after long periods of meditation he begins to formulate the color and lighting techniques inspired from his inner thoughts and feelings.  An ambitious and intelligent man, the completed painting is actually a product of weeks of work.  It is common for Reina to begin multiple pieces at once, only to resort to different pieces throughout time, until completely finished to the artist’s satisfaction.

Recreating a marvelous tactile effect in his images, Reina’s  luminosity also emerges with a remarkable quality of realism.  This realism  is rooted in the essence of the Sevillian school where painters such as Antonio Agudo, Justo Giron, Juan Antonio and his father Leon Olmo are well known for the same characteristic.  This school of artists is determined to preserve the traditions of their past by denying fads or trends surrounding the artistic world.   For Leon Reina to flourish in this environment leads one to understand that though this graceful world is rooted in tradition, soon the time will come for the next generation to carry the torch and the legacy of Sevillian painting.