Busy urban life on the Drouot crossroads in Paris was executed by Catalan painter Gaspar Miró i Lleó (Vilanova i la Geltrú 1859 - Barcelona 1930) during his life and work in Paris in 1901-1914. 

He received his first education at the school of the master Francesc Bonet Espasa. During his youth he worked at the Hurtado lithography and attended the Vilanovan academy of painting and drawing of Joan Ferrer Miró. Years later, he moved to Barcelona where he studied at the Llotja and was a disciple of Ramon Amadó, but he also had Claudi Lorenzale, Lluís Rigalt and Antoni Caba as teachers. He lived in Paris (1884 - 1886) and there he attended several free academies and returned as a still life painter.

In 1886 he settled back in Vilanova and was a professor at the city's School of Arts and Crafts, created that same year, where he worked for 10 years but ended up resigning as a result of a change in the organization of the studies and to dedicate himself fully to painting where, free from professional commitments, he was able, in 1899, to present a selection of works at the Sala Parés in Barcelona. Once the exhibition was over, he left in February 1901 with his family (his wife and three children) for Paris. In his workshop, near the Luxembourg Park, he created urban views, of the same park and plein air paintings, works that were very successful among dealers. A year and a half later he had to return to Catalonia for health reasons but despite establishing his residence in Barcelona he continued working as a painter. This production was divided into two and a considerable part was sent to his dealers in Paris and another part was sent to the Parés Gallery, where he exhibited again in November 1903. Once he recovered his health, he returned to Paris with the desire to position himself in the world of art. In 1904, he exhibited with success for the first time at the Hotel Drouot and did so between that year and 1914. He was a popular painter whom the press described as "peintre de la rue" and the Paris city council granted him the honorary title of "peintre de la ville de Paris" where the prefect gave him a credential that authorized him to set up his easel anywhere in the city, even on the balconies of official buildings.

As Francesc X. Puig quotes the critic Sebastià Gasch, "Gaspar Miró is one of the Catalan painters who managed to triumph in Paris and who is almost unknown in his homeland".

In 1959, the Foment Vilanoví dedicated an anthological exhibition to his work and currently the Víctor Balaguer Museum Library has some of the author's works.

Literature: Bénézit ( in French), Wikipedia ( in Catalan).

inscriptions: signed lower right.

Technique: oil on wood/ again laid down on wood panel.

Measurements: unframed, framed

Condition: restored and cleaned by professional  restorer, there is a restored longitudinal crack in the middle of the panel.