Francesc Vilaplana Surrealist Metaphysical Nude Figures With Chrysalis, Spanish Oil Canvas Painting 1970s
sitges, Spain
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Dimensions
Wear Condition
Good
Material
Oil Paint, Canvas
Style
Vintage, Traditional
Product Details
Description
Surrealist Metaphysical Nude Figures with Chrysalis, Spanish Oil Painting
Artist: Francesc Vilaplana (Barcelona, 1945)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 92 × 73 cm / 36.22 × 28.74 in
Framed dimensions: 96 × 77 cm / 37.80 × 30.31 in
Origin: Spain
Period: Second half of the 20th century
Style: Surrealism / Metaphysical Art
Subject: Figurative / Nude / Symbolist
Frame: Original-style black wooden frame
Condition: Good vintage condition, with minor signs of age consistent with the period.
DESCRIPTION
A striking and enigmatic surrealist oil painting by Catalan artist Francesc Vilaplana, featuring two monumental female figures standing upon a marble pedestal in an austere, dreamlike landscape.
The composition is constructed around a series of deliberately unsettling contrasts. The two female bodies are rendered with considerable physical presence, yet they remain anonymous: their faces are completely featureless, their hands and feet disappear, and their raised arms terminate in dark forms resembling sculptural or mechanical extremities. Their bodies appear simultaneously human and artificial, sensual and strangely immobile.
Behind them, railway tracks cross the empty landscape and disappear towards the horizon, introducing the idea of travel, passage and destination. Above the figures, isolated against the vast dark sky, hangs a small chrysalis-like form.
This suspended chrysalis provides one of the most compelling possible keys to the painting. Traditionally associated with metamorphosis and transformation, it creates a fascinating opposition with the static female figures below. The chrysalis contains the possibility of change, while the monumental bodies appear frozen, almost transformed into sculptures themselves.
The figures stand upon a marble pedestal bearing an empty golden plaque, reinforcing their appearance as anonymous monuments rather than individual women. Their closeness suggests intimacy, yet their lack of faces and hands makes communication and physical contact impossible.
The painting may therefore be interpreted as a surrealist meditation on metamorphosis, identity, desire and the human condition. Movement and immobility, individuality and anonymity, sensuality and alienation coexist within the same mysterious image.
The railway tracks introduce another powerful metaphor: the journey. They seem to lead directly toward the figures and the pedestal, almost suggesting that the viewer has arrived at the final station of an unknown voyage.
The resulting atmosphere is unmistakably metaphysical, where familiar objects are placed within an impossible world and acquire an unsettling psychological significance.
FRANCESC VILAPLANA
Francesc Vilaplana was born in Barcelona in 1945 and belongs to the generation of Catalan artists who explored figurative surrealism and metaphysical imagery during the second half of the 20th century.
His work frequently combines the human figure with enigmatic spaces, symbolic objects and dreamlike architectural or landscape elements.
Vilaplana exhibited at Barcelona's Galeria Adrià in 1975, an exhibition accompanied by a catalogue with text by the distinguished Catalan writer and critic Josep Maria Castellet and photographs by Toni Catany. He later presented drawings and collages at Galeria Vilassart in Vilassar de Mar in 1979.
Alongside his painting, Vilaplana also worked as an illustrator, collaborating with Editorial Juventud on editions of stories by Hans Christian Andersen during the 1970s.
PICTORIAL INSPIRATION
Vilaplana's visual universe can be connected to the great European surrealist and metaphysical tradition.
The empty, psychologically charged landscape recalls Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical spaces, while the precise juxtaposition of apparently unrelated elements and the transformation of the human body evoke the surrealist language of Salvador Dalí.
The anonymous female bodies also establish a dialogue with René Magritte's fascination with concealed identity and with the fragmented, reconstructed human figure found throughout 20th-century European art.
At the same time, the monumental treatment of the female body brings distant echoes of Picasso and the sculptural solidity of certain Mediterranean figurative traditions.
A highly distinctive work for collectors of Spanish surrealism, Catalan art, metaphysical painting and European figurative art.
CATEGORIES
Paintings → Figurative Paintings
Paintings → Nude Paintings
Surrealism
Modern
surrealist painting, Spanish surrealism, Catalan art, metaphysical painting, figurative oil painting, female nude, nude figures, chrysalis, metamorphosis, symbolic painting, dreamscape, surreal landscape, Spanish oil painting, Barcelona artist, Francesc Vilaplana, European surrealism, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, metaphysical art, 20th century Spanish art, Catalan surrealism, female figure painting, symbolic art, dreamlike painting
European art with a Mediterranean soul.
Wear Condition
Good
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Wear conditions
Excellent
Shows little to no signs of wear and tear.
Good
May show slight traces of use in keeping with age. Most vintage and antique items fit into this condition.
Average
Likely to show signs of some light scratching and ageing but still remains in a fair condition.
Apparent Wear and Tear
Visible signs of previous use including scratches, chips or stains.
Please refer to condition report, images or make a seller enquiry for additional information.
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Last updated: 12/02/2026
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