Early Life, Family and Training

Joan-Josep Tharrats i Vidal enters the world on 5 March 1918 in Girona. He is born into an industrialist family, the son of the businessman and poet Josep Tharrats i Vilà. The domestic environment carries a literary weight, shaped by his father's creative pursuits. By 1932, the family moves to Béziers, where Joan-Josep spends three years before the trajectory of his life shifts toward Barcelona.

In Barcelona, the focus turns to formal training at the Escola Massana. He seeks to master the fundamentals of his craft, but the momentum of his education is abruptly severed. The Spanish Civil War halts his studies, leaving his artistic development in a state of suspension. He remains away from a professional art career for several years, only resuming his creative activity in 1942.

The Dau al Set Period

The atmosphere shifts in 1947 at the Institut Français in Barcelona. Here, Tharrats meets a circle of artists that will redefine the local avant-garde, including Joan Ponç and Antoni Tàpies. These encounters spark a collective movement. By 1948, the group Dau al Set emerges, a name playing on the idea of the impossible—the seventh face of a six-sided die. They operate in the tension between the negation of Dadaism and the liberating expression of Surrealism, seeking to recover the Catalan artistic avant-garde that the post-war period had interrupted.

The group’s energy centers on a magazine of the same name. This publication is not merely a collection of papers; it is a physical manifestation of their shared intent. Tharrats turns his own atelier into a printing hub, where the magazine is produced on his own presses. This hands-on approach to publishing mirrors the group's broader desire to bypass the restrictive ideological and creative limitations of the time. They push against the established expressive forms of the regime, using their collective voice to assert a new, free mode of expression.

Technique and Artistic Style

The early works of Tharrats lean toward Impressionism, but the trajectory shifts as the influence of Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky takes hold. This pull toward abstraction marks a departure from his initial training. By 1946, he begins incorporating collage techniques into his practice, adding a tactile, layered dimension to his compositions. His evolution continues through a period of lineal abstraction, heavily influenced by Surrealism, before eventually transitioning into Art Informel. In this later phase, the focus shifts toward texture, color, and graphism.

A defining technical innovation emerges from his atelier: the "maculatures." These are a unique form of printing technique where sheets become stuck between the rollers of a printing press. The resulting overprints, created by successive pulls, produce a specific visual language that bridges the gap between fine art and graphic production. This experimentation with the physical mechanics of printing allows him to manipulate the surface in ways traditional methods cannot achieve.

• Untitled (about 1960)

Exhibitions and International Presence

The year 1949 marks a shift in his visibility. He holds an individual exhibition at the El Jardín gallery in Barcelona, establishing a presence within the local scene. By 1954, his work becomes a fixture at the Sala Gaspar in Barcelona, a venue that remains central to his professional trajectory for years to come.

His reach extends beyond the borders of Spain. From 1955, his presence is felt in Stockholm and New York City. This international movement continues as he enters the global stage of major biennials. He exhibits at the 5th São Paulo Biennale in 1959, followed by appearances at the Venice Biennale in 1960 and again in 1964.

Diverse Artistic Commissions

Tharrats’s creative output extends far beyond the canvas, moving into the physical and functional realms of design and stagecraft. He applied his graphic sensibility to the production of posters and the illustration of books, often utilizing his own atelier to print the magazine *Dau al Set*. This hands-on approach to publishing allowed him to experiment with the physical properties of the medium. In 1983, this interest in the printed word manifested in the publication of the poetry magazine *Negre + blau*.

The artist’s reach into decorative and architectural arts shows a preoccupation with texture and light. He worked in diverse media, including the creation of murals, stained glass, and mosaics. His tactile explorations continued into the smaller, more intimate scale of jewelry design. On the stage, he translated his visual language into scenography for opera, such as the production of *Spleen* in 1984.

• *Spleen* (1984)

Later Years and Death

The mid-1960s mark a shift toward institutional organization for Tharrats. In 1966, he founds the Associació d'Artistes Actuals, continuing his long-standing engagement with the evolution of the Catalan avant-garde. His creative output remains steady, moving through the decades with a focus on the physical properties of his medium.

The final chapter of his life finds him back in the spotlight of the Barcelona art scene. In 2000, he participates in a significant exhibition organized by Galeria Taüll. This show features a range of scales, from small oil paintings to monumental works, demonstrating a continued command over both intimate and expansive formats. He dies in Barcelona on 4 July 2001, at the age of 83.

Where to See the Works Today

The physical legacy of Joan-Josep Tharrats remains distributed across several major institutions. In Spain, his presence is felt within the Museo Reina Sofía. His works also reside in the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA). These collections hold pieces that trace his evolution from linear abstraction toward the textured, informalist style of his later years.

International collectors and scholars find his output in the United States at The Museum of Modern Art. This placement places his visual language alongside other significant figures of the twentieth-century avant-garde. His reach extends beyond traditional painting, as his graphic experiments are preserved elsewhere. A large part of his graphic work is held at the Fundació Tharrats d'Art Gràfic in Pineda de Mar, Barcelona. This repository maintains the specific technical traces of his "maculatures" and other print-based investigations.