Dis Berlín

(Ciria, Soria, 1959)

Círculo Adriático

1983

acrylic on canvas

81.3 x 115.9 cm

Inv. no. 3208

BBVA Collection Spain


Born in Soria and educated in Zaragoza, Dis Berlin came to fame in the 1980s in Madrid. In the central years of that decade he created a body of work that has been called his “blue period.” This is the phase from which these two paintings belong. In them, his Fauve roots are visible in the blue colouring that confers a nostalgic and melancholic air to the scenes represented.
 
A precursor of the Spanish neo-metaphysical movement, Dis Berlin was included, together with other artists, like Ángel Mateo Charris, in the group show El retorno del hijo pródigo held in Sala Buades (1991). The idea of travelling is recurrent in Dis Berlin’s work. In consonance with the metaphysical movement however, it is a journey that transcends the physical nature of what he depicts in his paintings.
 
In this canvas the artist depicts a seascape framed by two ethereal figures engrossed in contemplating a large ocean liner passing by in the greenish waters of the artist’s utopian Adriatic circle. His signature blue colouring coupled with the softness of the pastel tones shroud the work in an air of nostalgia and exoticism which is nevertheless not exempt from realism.