With the artist Francesc Llop i Marqués, Campredó has its most distinguished cultural figure. He was born on 24 August 1873 in the orchard area known as Els Clots, located near the hamlet of Raval del Pom. The son of farming parents, he received his primary education in the nearby village of L’Aldea. However, due to the harsh living conditions in the area, his parents were forced to move to Barcelona, where he was able to develop his artistic career more fully.
Llop was a master of watercolour painting, as several art encyclopedias attest. He was influenced by the Impressionist movement, whose most distinctive feature was the representation of light above colour, giving a much more vivid appearance to the scenes depicted. He devoted his entire life to artistic pursuits and lived among many renowned artists, which allowed him to maintain a respected position within the Catalan intellectual circles of his time.
At an early age, he began studying at the Ateneu Barcelonès and attended the classes of the prestigious teacher Nicanor Vázquez, who had a significant influence on the direction of his artistic career. Once established in his own studio, he worked for long periods as a draftsman and bookbinder while continuing to refine his design techniques through evening classes.
In 1901, he embarked on a Mexican adventure that lasted an entire decade. There, he collaborated with art and cultural magazines, thanks to his extensive knowledge of Mediterranean painting, and also worked as a restorer. Later, attracted by the beauty of the city and its vibrant artistic atmosphere, he moved to Paris, where he lived for more than two years. He became acquainted firsthand with various artistic styles and formed a close friendship with the Mallorcan painter Hermenegild Anglada Camarasa, known for his landscapes and depictions of Valencian and Romani folklore. Nevertheless, Llop always followed his own artistic path and was not influenced by the emerging movements of the time, such as Cubism or Surrealism.
Upon returning to Catalonia, he continued the somewhat bohemian lifestyle typical of artists and frequented Barcelona’s most prestigious artistic circles. The celebrated gathering at Els Quatre Gats, which brought together the leading figures of Catalan intellectual life, and the association L’Arca de Noé, dedicated to promoting the work of its members, left a profound mark on his career. This is described by Joan Basté, author of an outstanding monograph on the Campredó-born painter, published in 1989 by the art dealer Vicenç Coromina of the Quatre Cantons Gallery in Olot.
Llop developed a fruitful friendship with the prolific playwright and painter Santiago Rusiñol, who helped him establish himself professionally. During the 1920s and 1930s, he enjoyed numerous exhibitions, benefiting from the vibrant artistic atmosphere that flourished in Barcelona, particularly around the time of the 1929 International Exposition.
At the Barcelona International Fine Arts Exhibition in 1944, he presented a painting entitled Threshing. At the exhibition Barcelona Seen by Its Artists, he exhibited an oil painting, Plaça de Palau, which earned him an honorary mention. The Museum of Modern Art of Barcelona acquired two of his works, Cold in Farena and The Dawns, on the occasion of the Barcelona International Exhibition.
He also maintained a very close friendship with the sculptor Innocenci Soriano Montagut from Amposta, who organised a heartfelt tribute in 1963 to celebrate Llop’s ninetieth birthday. Throughout his life, Llop made several visits to the land of his birth, where he was honoured on various occasions by the Artistic Circle of Tortosa, which acquired several of his works.
Two exhibitions of his work were held in Campredó in 1988 and 1995, while the most recent took place in January 2007.
Today, Campredó commemorates him through a street and a cultural centre bearing his name. A plaque also marks the house where he was born. Furthermore, the cultural association Friends of Francesc Llop i Marqués was established with the aim of promoting the study of his work. With the support of experts familiar with his artistic production, the association has acquired original works to create an art collection for the town of Campredó, highlighting both Llop’s artistic excellence and the creative potential of rural communities.
His works are now dispersed among museums and private collections in Paris, Mexico, Barcelona, and Tortosa. He remains a painter remembered in various artistic manuals and studies of contemporary painting.