Barrio Escalante, San José

Visits by appointment only

Schedule a visit (opens the scheduler)
Monasterio, by Teodorico Quirós. Two dark, vertical cypresses abruptly break the serenity of the scene.

Teodorico Quirós

MonasterioInquire about availability

Year
1945
Technique
Oil/Canvas
Dimensions
56 × 78 cm
Status
Inquire about availability
Palette
cerulean blue, burnt ochre, warm white, dark reddish brown, stone gray
Brushwork
Direct, modulated impasto with angular brushstrokes, bounded by firm dark strokes outlining the architectural structure.

Curatorial analysis

Two dark, vertical cypresses abruptly break the serenity of the scene. Rather than acting as mere foliage or a discreet background, they anchor themselves in the foreground with an almost blackened reddish tone that cuts across the horizontal walls, compelling the eye upward toward the monastery's upper levels. Confronting them, the building rises as an assemblage of solid masses, stepped with near-constructive precision beneath the pristine clarity of a cloudless blue sky.

The oil painting is organized through angular planes and vibrant ochre rooftops, illuminated by an unforgiving lateral light that bathes the forward-facing walls while casting secondary facades into shadow. There is no lingering on anecdotal stonework or ornate detail; what governs here is the geometry of volume and the sheer density of the walls. A deliberate, decisive contour, marked by dark lines that draw as much as they paint, delineates eaves, arches, and crests, endowing the architecture with an earthy, unyielding presence.

Along the lower section, the terrain and perimeter walls reveal a looser, more stripped-down brushwork. Gray, mauve, and earthy hues converse with a ruined archway, evoking layered strata of time upon the hill. The whitewashed surface of the central wall absorbs the light with thick, material weight, anchoring the structure to the landscape as though it had emerged directly from the rock itself.

The view conveys the dense stillness inherent to sanctuaries where stone has endured the turn of countless seasons. The severe verticality of the trees, held in balance against the horizontal weight of the cloisters and terraces, charges the painting with a restrained mysticism, wherein silence is never an absence, but the very essence of the inhabited space.

Monasterio

More works by Teodorico Quirós

11 works

Available works

Inquire about availability

Sold and historical

Similar works

By subject, palette and style

Message the gallery on WhatsApp

Cookies

We use cookies to learn how the site is used and to show the gallery's ads on other platforms. They are only turned on if you accept them.