The Banquet - Claudio Castelucho Diana (1870-1927)

Claudio Castelucho Diana (1870-1927)

Born in Barcelona in 1870, Claudio Castelucho came from a family of artists. His father, a theater set designer, shared his passion for the visual arts and taught him the basics of painting. Together, they wrote several treatises on perspective in art.

In 1892, the family moved to Paris. Claudio continued his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1897, his first works were accepted at the Salon, marking the beginning of his public recognition.

Alongside his career as a painter, Castelucho became a teacher, first at the Académie Colarossi, then at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. These two institutions presented themselves as more open alternatives to the Beaux-Arts, welcoming both women and men and allowing women to draw the male nude—a real revolution at the time.

His teaching, with its dynamic and contrasting palette, his schematization of forms, and his photographic framing made him a highly regarded teacher and an artist closely followed by collectors.

He took part in a major modern art exhibition at the Galerie Moos in Geneva in 1913, presenting works inspired by his trip to Spain in 1910. He continued to exhibit regularly at salons, notably at the Salon des Indépendants in 1927.