# Emilio Grau Sala artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/emilio-grau-sala/ Profile generated: 2026-05-02T02:04:45.090Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1911-06-22 - Death date: 1975-06-21 - Nationality: Spanish - Movements: Post-Impressionism / École de Paris - Common media: oil painting, watercolor, pastel, printmaking, drawing, illustration, set design ## About Emilio Grau Sala Emilio Grau Sala (1911–1975) was a Spanish painter, printmaker, illustrator, and watercolorist born in Barcelona. He trained at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona and became active as an exhibiting artist by the early 1930s. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Grau Sala relocated to Paris with his wife, the painter Ángeles Santos Torroella, and spent much of his subsequent career working in France. His practice spanned oil painting, pastel, watercolor, drawing, printmaking, and illustration, placing him within the broad current of twentieth-century Spanish and French figurative painting. Grau Sala is recorded in major reference works including Bénézit, Vollmer, and the Saur index, and his work is documented in the RKD, VIAF, and Library of Congress authority files. Collectors encounter his paintings, works on paper, and prints at European and international auctions with notable frequency. ## Common works and media Grau Sala is most frequently encountered in appraisal and auction contexts as an oil-on-canvas painter of figurative compositions, landscapes, and still lifes. He also produced a significant body of work on paper, including watercolors, pastels, and drawings. His printmaking output includes graphic works and illustrations, and he is credited as a set painter and decorator, suggesting theatrical or decorative commissions may occasionally surface. Illustrated books and lithographic editions also appear in auction records. ## Market and appraisal context Emilio Grau Sala maintains a liquid and well-documented secondary market with 570 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily index, of which 305 carry a realized price. Records span from September 2003 through April 2026, and activity is rising: 62 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 46 in the prior 12-month period. The price distribution shows meaningful dispersion—minimum observed price of approximately €1 (prints and small works on paper) through a maximum of €60,000 for top-tier oils—with a median near €4,400 and an interquartile range of roughly €700–€13,000. Spanish salerooms dominate: Setdart Auction House, Subastas Segre, Ansorena, Sala Retiro Subastas, and TGP Auction handle the greatest volume. French houses (Artcurial, Tajan, Aguttes) and international firms (Christie's, Sotheby's, Freeman's) also appear, confirming cross-border demand. Recent comparable oils on canvas from Paris-period figurative subjects have realized between €3,200 and €14,000 at Setdart, while watercolors and works on paper typically trade in the €250–€4,600 band. Works with gallery labels (Sala Parés, Galeriá Sennacheribbo) or documented provenance tend to sell at or above estimate. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Emilio Grau Sala maintains a liquid and well-documented secondary market with 570 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily index, of which 305 carry a realized price. Records span from September 2003 through April 2026, and activity is rising: 62 lots appeared in the most recent 12-month window versus 46 in the prior 12-month period. The price distribution shows meaningful dispersion—minimum observed price of approximately €1 (prints and small works on paper) through a maximum of €60,000 for top-tier oils—with a median near €4,400 and an interquartile range of roughly €700–€13,000. Spanish salerooms dominate: Setdart Auction House, Subastas Segre, Ansorena, Sala Retiro Subastas, and TGP Auction handle the greatest volume. French houses (Artcurial, Tajan, Aguttes) and international firms (Christie's, Sotheby's, Freeman's) also appear, confirming cross-border demand. Recent comparable oils on canvas from Paris-period figurative subjects have realized between €3,200 and €14,000 at Setdart, while watercolors and works on paper typically trade in the €250–€4,600 band. Works with gallery labels (Sala Parés, Galeriá Sennacheribbo) or documented provenance tend to sell at or above estimate. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal for a Grau Sala work would combine the auction-record distribution above with a detailed examination of the specific piece. Key inputs the appraiser would need: high-resolution photographs showing signature placement, medium identification (oil on canvas vs. oil on panel vs. watercolor on paper vs. ink drawing), measured dimensions, condition report (especially for works on cardboard or paper, which are vulnerable to foxing and acid migration), and any provenance documentation such as gallery labels, exhibition stickers, or inscriptions on the verso. The appraiser would then select comparable lots from the 305 priced records—prioritizing same-medium, similar-size, and similar-period examples—and adjust for condition, provenance strength, and current market sentiment. Signed and dated works with Paris-gallery labels typically justify an upward adjustment; unsigned works or works on acidic supports may warrant a discount. Because no single catalogue raisonné exists, the appraiser would also cross-reference attribution against Bénézit, Vollmer, and Saur entries, and note the birth-year discrepancy (1899 vs. 1911) when evaluating older catalogue listings. ### Valuation factors - Medium: oils on canvas and panel consistently achieve the highest prices (€3,200–€14,000 in recent results); watercolors and gouaches trade in the €550–€4,600 range; ink drawings and prints fall below €1,500. - Size and scale: larger canvases (50 cm+) command premiums over small-format works on paper or cardboard. - Provenance and gallery labels: works retaining Sala Parés, Galeriá Sennacheribbo, or other documented gallery labels on the verso attract stronger bidding and may sell above the median. - Dating and period: Paris-period works (late 1930s–1970s) with confirmed dates and locations on the back are well-represented and sought after; the 1939 Toulon oil on wood and the 1971 "Interior" are examples of dated works that strengthen attribution. - Signature and inscription: signed works with verso inscriptions (date, title, location) are easier to authenticate and typically achieve higher results; unsigned works such as the gouache "Woman in interior with views of Notre Dame" (€1,500) may trade at a discount. - Condition: works on cardboard and paper are susceptible to acid migration, foxing, and edge wear; condition reports materially affect valuation, particularly for watercolors from the 1950s and earlier. - Subject matter: figurative interiors, Parisian city views, and still lifes with figures are the most frequently traded subjects and provide the deepest pool of comparables. ### Collector notes - Grau Sala is an accessible entry point into mid-century Spanish and French figurative painting, with a deep and liquid auction market—over 300 priced results to draw comparables from and rising annual volume (62 lots in the past year). Buyers should expect to pay roughly €3,000–€14,000 for a signed oil on canvas in good condition with documented provenance, while attractive watercolors and works on paper can be acquired between €500 and €4,600. Works bearing Sala Parés or Paris-gallery labels offer added confidence in attribution. Because the market is dispersed across many salerooms, comparable pricing is generally transparent. Sellers should ensure condition reports, clear photographs of signatures and verso inscriptions, and any provenance documentation are available before consignment, as these details materially affect bidding. Prints and ink drawings trade at the lower end (below €1,500) and may be best suited for collectors building a representative study collection rather than seeking investment-grade works. ### Market caveats - Price distribution statistics (min €1, median €4,400, max €60,000) blend results in multiple currencies (EUR, USD, and possibly others); direct currency-normalized comparability should be confirmed for appraisal use. - Several recent lots at Setdart list a death year of 1977 rather than the consensus 1975 documented in RKD and Library of Congress authority files; this discrepancy appears in catalogue entries but does not change the artist's identity. - The RKD records a discrepancy in some sources listing a birth year of 1899 versus the consensus 1911-06-22; verify dating against catalogue entries when evaluating older attributions. - No single catalogue raisonné is cited in available sources; authentication relies on stylistic analysis, provenance documentation, and reference-work entries in Bénézit, Vollmer, and Saur. - A number of recent lots (approximately 8 of 24 in the recent window) show no price realized, indicating either buy-ins, withdrawn lots, or post-sale data lag; the priced-lot sample is 305 of 570 total records. - Mixed-currency results (EUR for Spanish and French houses, USD for Helmuth Stone, Market Auctions, Freeman's, Akiba Galleries) mean that median and quartile figures are not strictly comparable without FX normalization. ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/emilio-grau-sala/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable / Setdart: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-barcelona-1911-paris-1975-interior-paris-1971-oil-on-canvas-signed-in-the-lower-left-corner-located-and-dated-on-the-back-2-c-9d8e52307b - Invaluable / Subastas Segre: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-july-14th-french-national-day-389-c-1206cbd289 - Invaluable / Tajan: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-1911-1975-23-c-f6852a9147 - Invaluable / Aguttes: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-1911-1975-l-heure-du-the-1974-112-c-880cd0586c - Invaluable / Helmuth Stone: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-spain-1911-1975-46-c-823ca8af01 - Invaluable / Market Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-spanish-1911-1975-sur-la-balon-oil-painting-on-canvas-18-c-5992a56951 - Invaluable / Freeman's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-spanish-1911-1975-fleurs-paris-1969-8-c-7c85feda34 - Invaluable / Akiba Galleries: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-emilio-grau-sala-spanish-1911-1975-interior-w-mother-child-painting-85-c-7d29409d21 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from library authority files, museum databases, and scholarly reference works with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are available. For Emilio Grau Sala, identity data is drawn from the RKD, VIAF, Library of Congress, and Wikidata, supplemented by biographical context from Wikipedia and the RKD literature index. ## Sources - RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/33408 - VIAF (Virtual International Authority File): https://viaf.org/viaf/32153182750226792374/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79079140 - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q958441 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilio_Grau_Sala