Josep Maria Sert

Career

Sert initially studied art in Rome before moving to Paris in 1899. There, he became involved with a group of decorative artists known as Les Nabis, gravitating around Paul Ranson, who had studied at the renowned private Académie Julian, founded in 1868 by painter Rodolphe Julian.

Sert was commissioned in 1900 to paint several murals at the Vic Cathedral in Barcelona, which took him more than 30 years to complete.

By 1910, Sert had begun fully focusing on murals and other large-scale work. He collaborated with Russia Sergei Diaghilev to create sets for his Ballets Russes. In the United States, Sert painted a mural at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, as well as a 1937 mural entitled American Progress at 30 Rockefeller Center. American Progress was commissioned by the Rockefellers to replace Diego Rivera’s mural Man at the Crossroads, which Nelson Rockefeller destroyed because it included an image of Lenin.

He later painted the walls and ceilings of the Council Chambers at the League of Nations in Geneva.

Personal life

Sert began an affair with the well-known pianist and patron of the arts Misia Godebska in 1908. They later married on 2 September 1920. In 1925, Sert met Georgian-Rsssian sculptress Isabelle Roussadana Mdivani, known as Roussy, who subsequently moved in with him and Misia. Sert began an affair with Roussy and later divorced Misia on 28 December 1927 to marry Mdivani.

Roussy and Sert were married in 1928 in a civil ceremony at the consulate in The Hague. In 1930, they were married in a religious ceremony at the Spanish church in Paris.

After Roussy died in 1938, Sert reconciled with Misia.and returned to life with her, though they kept separate apartments

Sert died on 27 December 1945 in Barcelona, and left his apartment and furnishings to Misia.