Though Julio González is best known for his sculptures, his drawings were central to his artistic practice. He was a passionate draughtsman and was never without pencil and paper. As a result of his interest in the works of Puvis de Chavannes and Edgar Degas, González’s early works on paper consisted of figurative watercolors and pastels, mostly depicting images of women variously at toilette, asleep, or ironing.

The importance of drawing in the work of Julio González is intrinsically related with his groundbreaking work as a sculptor, not only in the sense that drawing has always played an instrumental role in sketching an artist’s sculptural project, but also in the sense that González understood sculpture as drawing into the space. In the late 1920s, he saw his abstract sculptural work in iron as a way of three-dimensional drawing: “In the disquietude of the night the stars seem to show us points of hope in the sky […] It is these points in the infinite which are precursors of the new art: To draw in space."

Les Saules, executed circa 1927, is a small and intimate drawing in pen, Indian ink and gouache on paper featuring trees of varying heights. The artist creates black outlines enclosing leaves rendered in blue and green tones as well as brown trunks in a meadow or stretch of grass. Black lines in the sky are perhaps suggestive of wind and a full yellow sun shines serenely. This work was created in the early 1920s, during the context of the emergence of Noucentisme in Catalunya and the influx of avant-garde movements from Europe. Joaquin Torres- García, Gonzalez’s close friend, was at the forefront of Noucentisme, a movement which called for a return to classicism and the rejection of bohemian lifestyles. It was closely intertwined with politics and was marked by an interest in order, nature, and the integration of art into everyday spaces. The movement was also influenced by Impressionism, and as can be seen in this work, the artist’s love of nature is apparent; the Catalan landscape in particular was always a vastly important source of inspiration for artists native to the area. There is the sense of a rapid execution in line with Impressionism, perhaps even en plein air. Overall, the work is evocative of peace and a love of the landscape rendered quickly and fluidly.