Lluís Graner

After achieving notable success in painting, he moved into lighting design for theatrical shows and developed the Catalan lyrical theater genre of "musical visions".

Under his artistic direction, notable pieces of Catalan lyric theater were premiered, such as La santa espina, by Enric Morera and Àngel Guimerà.

[1]During his final year at school, he received a grant to study in Madrid, where he copied and learned from the Old Masters at the Museo del Prado.

Due to the success of the sala Mercè during its first season, Graner embarked on the adventure of renting the Teatro Principal in Barcelona in 1905, where he set up his company Espectacles-Audicions Graner, which, despite the great success of his shows, set up a loss-making production model due to the painter's lack of business experience and forced him to survive economically by making portraits on commission.

In his later years, he left Spain, living successively in Havana, New York and several other places while travelling to Santiago, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

In 1904, Graner commissioned the architect Antoni Gaudí to design a single-family house in Bonanova, a neighborhood in the upper part of Barcelona.

For the so-called Graner villa, the architect designed a project halfway between the Batlló house and the porter's lodge in Park Güell.

Two sketches of the plan and elevation of the building are preserved from the project, published by Josep Francesc Ràfols in his 1929 biography of the architect.

[6] These "musical visions" were the main stage repertoire of the sala Mercè and their success made Lluís Graner rent the Teatro Principal of Barcelona when it was put out to auction in 1905 in order to accommodate more spectators for his shows.