Inside the Cau Ferrat

"Miquel Utrillo (Barcelona, 1862 - Sitges, 1934) was one of Santiago Rusiñol’s friends and bohemian companions. He was born in 1862 in Barcelona, and the exile of his parents took him to France twice, meaning that he finished his engineering studies in Paris. He was a restless and versatile person and he worked as a decorator, journalist, art critic, cultural activity promoter, illustrator, poster designer and painter. In the spring of 1895 he visited Sitges for the first time when he accompanied Rusiñol.
In this painting, Utrillo partially shows the ground floor of Cau Ferrat, as seen from the fountain room. It was painted a few months after the inauguration in November 1894, during the III Moderniste Festival.
The painting gives an idea of what Cau Ferrat looked like for the first few years and shows how over the years its contents increased as Rusiñol’s collections grew."