# Josep Guinovart artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/josep-guinovart/ Profile generated: 2026-04-30T12:44:30.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1927-03-20 - Death date: 2007-12-12 - Nationality: Spanish - Movements: Informalism, Abstract Expressionism, Dau al Set (Catalan avant-garde group) - Common media: painting, graphic art, illustration, set design / mural painting, printmaking ## About Josep Guinovart Josep Guinovart i Bertran (1927–2007) was a Catalan painter and graphic artist born in Barcelona who became one of Spain's leading post-war abstract artists. Trained initially as a house painter in his family's trade, he shifted to fine art through evening drawing classes in 1943 and held his first exhibition in 1948. That same year he began contributing illustrations to Dau al Set, the influential Catalan avant-garde journal. A stay in Paris around 1952 deepened his exposure to contemporary European art currents. By the mid-1950s Guinovart had moved decisively toward informalism and abstract expressionism, producing richly textured paintings and mixed-media works that incorporated everyday materials—wood, sand, wire, and found objects—into densely layered compositions. Over a career spanning more than five decades he received major Spanish and international prizes, and his work is held in museums and public collections across Europe and the Americas. ## Common works and media Collectors most frequently encounter Guinovart's mixed-media paintings on canvas or board, which combine oil or acrylic paint with sand, wood scraps, metal, paper, and other found materials. He also produced a substantial body of graphic works—lithographs, etchings, and screen prints—often issued in signed and numbered editions. Gouaches and works on paper from various periods appear at auction as well. Mural commissions, stage designs, and book illustrations form a smaller but documented segment of his output. Subject matter ranges from fully non-representational texture studies to works that retain vestigial figurative or landscape references, particularly from his earlier figurative period. ## Market and appraisal context Josep Guinovart maintains an active and liquid secondary market, with 657 recorded auction lots spanning from October 2004 through April 2026 and 150 priced results available for analysis. The market is predominantly driven by Spanish regional auction houses—Subarna Subastas, Sala Retiro Subastas, Setdart Auction House, Subastas Segre, and Arce Subastas account for the bulk of turnover—with occasional appearances at international firms such as Hampel Fine Art Auctions (Munich) and Marques dos Santos (Portugal). Auction volume has been stable to growing: 60 lots in the trailing 12 months compared with 50 in the prior 12-month window, indicating steady collector interest. Price dispersion is wide. The low end (€10–€150) is dominated by prints, posters, and small works on paper; the interquartile range runs from approximately €150 to €1,200; and the recorded maximum is €35,850. The strongest prices are achieved by large-scale mixed-media paintings on canvas from Guinovart's mature informalist period (mid-1960s through late 1980s), exemplified by the 1989 canvas "Pelaires" which realized €5,500 at Setdart (December 2024) and an untitled 1977 work that achieved €9,500 at Subarna Subastas (December 2025). Intervened engravings from the mid-1970s—prints that the artist hand-modified with paint and collage—trade around €800 per impression. Untitled prints and posters at regional houses can sell for as little as €90–€120. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Josep Guinovart maintains an active and liquid secondary market, with 657 recorded auction lots spanning from October 2004 through April 2026 and 150 priced results available for analysis. The market is predominantly driven by Spanish regional auction houses—Subarna Subastas, Sala Retiro Subastas, Setdart Auction House, Subastas Segre, and Arce Subastas account for the bulk of turnover—with occasional appearances at international firms such as Hampel Fine Art Auctions (Munich) and Marques dos Santos (Portugal). Auction volume has been stable to growing: 60 lots in the trailing 12 months compared with 50 in the prior 12-month window, indicating steady collector interest. Price dispersion is wide. The low end (€10–€150) is dominated by prints, posters, and small works on paper; the interquartile range runs from approximately €150 to €1,200; and the recorded maximum is €35,850. The strongest prices are achieved by large-scale mixed-media paintings on canvas from Guinovart's mature informalist period (mid-1960s through late 1980s), exemplified by the 1989 canvas "Pelaires" which realized €5,500 at Setdart (December 2024) and an untitled 1977 work that achieved €9,500 at Subarna Subastas (December 2025). Intervened engravings from the mid-1970s—prints that the artist hand-modified with paint and collage—trade around €800 per impression. Untitled prints and posters at regional houses can sell for as little as €90–€120. ### Appraisal notes Appraisily would combine the auction-record evidence above with physical inspection of the work—documenting dimensions, medium, support, signature placement and legibility, date inscriptions, edition numbering (for prints), and overall condition. For Guinovart's mixed-media pieces, condition assessment is especially important because his materials (sand, wood, wire, organic matter, wax, metal plate) can degrade, loosen, or discolor over time. Provenance documentation—gallery invoices, exhibition labels, catalogue raisonné references, or museum loan records—can meaningfully support or adjust a valuation. Comparable-lot selection should prioritize works of similar medium, scale, period, and complexity. The €375 median and €1,200 p75 benchmarks provide a useful midpoint, but a large signed-and-dated mixed-media canvas from the 1970s–1980s should be compared against lots in the upper quartile, while prints and works on paper should be benchmarked against the lower end of the distribution. ### Valuation factors - Medium and support — large-scale mixed-media paintings on canvas command the highest prices; works on paper, engravings, and prints trade at significantly lower levels - Period — mature informalist works from the late 1950s through the 1980s are the most sought-after; earlier figurative works and late-career pieces tend to trade lower - Scale — dimensions materially affect value; larger canvases (100 cm+ on a side) attract stronger bidding than smaller compositions - Intervention and uniqueness — artist-intervened prints (hand-applied paint, collage) carry a premium over standard editioned impressions - Provenance and exhibition history — works with documented gallery provenance, exhibition labels, or catalogue raisonné entries are valued above undocumented comparable lots - Condition — mixed-media works incorporating organic and non-traditional materials (sand, wax, chickpeas, wood, metal) require specialist condition assessment; deterioration can substantially reduce value - Authenticity — signature, date inscription, and consistency with documented oeuvre should be verified; unsigned or ambiguously attributed works trade at a discount - Auction-house tier — results from established Spanish houses (Setdart, Subarna) tend to anchor more reliable comparables than smaller regional salerooms ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - Price data is derived from Appraisily's auction-record index, which aggregates results from public auction feeds; private sales and dealer prices are not represented. - Approximately 77% of recorded lots (507 of 657) lack a published realized price in the source pack, which may reflect unsold lots, post-sale negotiations, or incomplete data ingestion. The statistical distribution (min, p25, median, p75, max) is calculated from the 150 priced lots and may not fully represent the complete market picture. - The auction-house landscape is dominated by Spanish regional salerooms; results from major international houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams) are underrepresented in this dataset. A professional appraisal should supplement these records with additional comparable searches. - Guinovart frequently used unconventional, perishable materials; condition issues may not be fully captured in auction cataloguing and can significantly affect value. - Currency is EUR for all recorded lots; collectors dealing in other currencies should account for exchange-rate fluctuations when using these benchmarks. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/josep-guinovart/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-pelaires-1989-mixed-media-on-canvas-signed-and-dated-in-the-lower-left-corner-104-c-1af434b9c0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-untitled-1995-mixed-media-oil-matter-plate-chickpeas-charcoal-waxes-on-canvas-signed-and-dated-in-the-lower-right-corner-113-c-86e4115961 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-untitled-1997-mixed-media-on-tablex-signed-and-dated-in-the-lower-left-corner-121-c-d99492ebd1 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-1927-2007-untitled-1977-798-c-4a4b9cb4cc - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-1927-2007-untitled-1972-686-c-a04453c7c3 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-1927-2007-unitled-1972-675-c-12d62ad01c - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-untitled-1975-engraving-intervened-by-the-artist-with-painting-and-collage-p-a-copy-signed-dated-and-justified-by-hand-227-c-5a266c390c - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-untitled-1975-engraving-intervened-by-the-artist-with-painting-and-collage-copy-p-t-signed-dated-and-justified-by-hand-226-c-c5d023be38 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-sin-titulo-201-c-d0d56a80f9 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-1927-barcelona-2007-ebenda-689-c-34844f4bdc - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-josep-guinovart-barcelona-1927-2007-like-a-mouth-1975-oil-and-charcoal-on-canvas-signed-and-dated-in-the-upper-right-corner-and-on-the-back-16-c-f93a998059 ## Appraisily data basis This Appraisily artist page combines identity research drawn from library authority files, national art-history databases, and biographical sources with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lot data when those records are accessible. The information presented here is intended to support collector understanding and should be supplemented by a professional appraisal for specific works. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q358061 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josep_Guinovart - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/96330256/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80008032 - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/34608 - Getty Research Institute: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500089251