Josep Dalmau i Rafel (Manresa, 1867 - Barcelona, 1930) was trained among Barcelona’s symbolists and modernists. He sojourned in Paris between 1900 and 1906. He founded the Galeries Dalmau, presented the European avant-gardes in Barcelona and promoted numerous young Catalan creators (such as Miró and Dalí). He played a pivotal role in the evolution of painting in Catalonia.
His self-portrait is a fine synthesis of the aesthetic referents in which he was trained around the turn of the 20th century.