The House on the Bridge

After studying and working for two years in the studio of the Spanish painter, Eduardo Chicharro (1873-1949), Diego Rivera left Madrid in 1909. October of the same year found him in the city of Bruges, a favorite of artists because of its gloomy, melancholy medieval atmosphere. Rivera chose to depict a tranquil, neglected corner of the Flemish city, exploiting its symbolic potential in a composition which he later painted after settling in Paris, based on sketches he had made in situ. The background of The House on the Bridge is taken up by the Arents House, which nowadays houses the Brangwyn Museum, while we can see one of the walls of the XVth century Gruuthuse Palace on the left, and watch the waters of the Reie Canal flow unceasingly under the bridge. In this work, the artist succeeds in bringing out the inherent Symbolism of the dead city's time-worn buildings by using various autumnal shades of red which stand out in contrast with the various lit patches -i.e. the sky, the facade of the house and the sunlight that can be glimpsed at the other end of the tunnel through which the aqueduct flows. The tranquil surface of the canal, which reflects the surroundings, is disturbed by water, dripping from one of the gargoyles of the palace on the left, breaking into concentric ripples, an effect achieved by means of blotchy, slurred brushstrokes. This painting was exhibited at the Parisian Salon des Indépendents in the Spring of 1910, and subsequently at the Autumn Salon that same year. It formed part of the group of paintings exhibited at the National Fine Arts School in 1910 in order to acquaint the public with the works that Rivera had painted in Europe. In order to swell the said school's collection, once the Ministry of Education had approved the fee to be paid, Rivera sold eight of the works on show, including the present one, which has been on view at the MUNAL since 1982.