Josep Berga i Boix

Josep Berga i Boix (25 October 1837, La Pinya, Garrotxa - 8 October 1914, Olot) was a Spanish landscape painter; influenced by the Barbizon school and one of the founders of the Olot school. In his later years he was known as Avi Berga (Grandpa Berga).

Biography He was born to a family of peasant laborers. His early education came from two local monks and his first exposure to art probably came at the farmhouse owned by his parents' employer. The only way open to continue his education was by pursuing an ecclesiastical career so, in 1852, he went to Olot to attend the Latin school. While there, he was able to study drawing with a local artist named Narcís Pascual i Sala (1805-1869).

In 1855, he moved to Girona to continue his religious training at the seminary. He was there for six years without making a definite decision about entering the clergy. Along with his official studies, he took private lessons from , who had studied with Thomas Couture in Paris. When he left the seminary, he found work as a draftsman for the architect.

He became a regular contributor of illustrations for various periodicals, including . As a result of some work he did for a Carlist newspaper, he was briefly forced to take refuge in Perpignan after the Revolution of 1868, where he met Joaquim Vayreda and was introduced to the Barbizon school of landscape painting.

He was also an amateur writer. From 1893 to 1894, his semi-autobiographical narrative, "L'estudiant de la Garrotxa", was published as a serial in . This was issued as a book in 1895, with illustrations by several artists from Olot. He later produced a sequel, a study of art in Olot, a play ("La Borda", 1902) and, towards the end of his life, a collection of stories; Llegendes de la comarca d'Olot.

In 2000, the Olot Town Council added his portrait to the "Gallery of Illustrious Olotinos".

Selected paintings