19th-20th century Spanish

A Catalan modernista painter, and the maximum exponent of its mystical facet, he studied at the La Lonja School in Barcelona and in the studios of Ramón Martí i Alsina (1826-1894) and Antonio Caba (1838-1907).

Though he initially enrolled to study architecture he abandoned the university to go to Rome with his brother, the sculptor Josep Llimona (1864-1934), who had been awarded a Fortuny scholarship from the Barcelona City Council. After four years in Italy, including a period spent in Venice, he finished his art studies in Madrid, where he became a regular visitor to the Prado museum.

On returning to Barcelona, both he and his brother joined the Centro de Acuarelistas (also known as

 Círculo Artístico de Barcelona 

founded in 1881 by a group of painters with the primary goal of promoting art and culture. It was also known for a time as Centro de Acuarelistas before returning to its original name in 1887 after it was refounded. The society played an important role in Barcelona’s social and artistic life at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

) which, together with the Ateneo de Barcelona, were the two artists groups active at that time in the city. During this period his output was focused on anecdotal painting, mostly of sea and countryside scenes, with highly realistic settings tinged with a certain dramatic quality.


In 1890, the artist completely dedicated himself to the cause of Catholicism, which would thereafter impregnate his whole work. His concern with religion led him to express his newfound vocation through painting, his articles and his drawings for Catholic newspapers.

In 1893, the Llimona brothers, together with Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926),  Dionisio Baixeras (1862-1943) and Joaquim Vancells (1866-1942), founded

 Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc 

(1893) an art society committed to Christian principles that was formed as a moral reaction against the “bohemian” postulates of the Círculo Artístico de Barcelona. Founded by the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona, it viewed art as a transcendent mission. The group was consecrated to the Sacred Heart, under the patronage of St Luke the Apostle, taking the future archbishop Josep Torras i Bages (1846-1916) as its spiritual guide. The group had its first exhibition at Sala Parés in Barcelona, the year it was founded. Other members of the group were the artists Antoni Utrillo and Antoni Gaudí, and the writer Eugeni d’Ors, among others.

, whose aim was to create a society of Christian artists. Within this religious phase he worked primarily as a mural painter and a noteworthy example of his later output is the dome of the Chapel of Our Lady at the monastery of Montserrat.