'The artist and writer Rusiñol was one of the founders of the turn-of-the-century Spanish Modernista movement.'
Barcelona harbour (1883/1884) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsMaricel Museum
'It shows his teachers Tomàs Moragas and Joan Roig I Soler influence by the subject and also its treatment. As you can read in the inscription "To my beloved grandfather", Rusiñol gave this painting to one of his grandfathers as a gift.'
Bohemian (Miquel Utrillo) (1890) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'"From 1880 onward Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 - Aranjuez,1931) and Miquel Utrillo (Barcelona, 1862 - Sitges, 1934) strengthened their friendship and together, with Casas, Clarasó and Canudas, became an inseparable quintet.'
Park Moulin de la Galette (1891) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'"The winter of 1890 -- 1891 Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861- Aranjuez, 1931) and Ramon Casas (Barcelona, 1866-1932) were in Montmartre, In Paris, a place that offered them a rich variety of topics.'
Ramon Canudas, sick convalescent (1892) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'"Friendship between Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 - Aranjuez, 1931) and Ramon Canudas began in 1885 through Miquel Utrillo.'
White gallery (1893) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsMaricel Museum
'"Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 - Aranjuez, 1931) first came to Sitges in October 1891. His friend Ramon Casas and Eliseu Meifrén had arrived a few weeks previously.'
The girl with carnation (Teresa Mirabent Planas) (1893) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'"From the beginning the light of Sitges dazzled Rusinol's retina, just like before it blinded Arcadi Mas I Fondevila, Joan Roig I Soler and the rest of the Luminist School painters.'
Boats on the Seine (1894) by Santiago RusiñolFundación Banco Santander
'The oil painting under discussion has the same co-ordinates, even though it may not be the same Seine that the artist showed at his one-man exhibition in the Sala Parés in Barcelona in October 1894: "That view of the shadows reflected in the phosphorescent waters of the river", said art critic Raimon Casellas of the picture, relating it to the ninth Norwegian school, and no doubt referring to Fritz Thaulow and Erik Werenskjold.'
Portrait of Modesto Sánchez Ortiz (1897) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'He was fully integrated to the cultural life of Barcelona, opening the paper to young Catalan artists and intellectuals such as Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, Isidre Nonell, Raimon Casellas and others. The great friendship between Rusiñol and Sánchez Ortiz was born at that time.'
Abandoned palace (1897) by Santiago Rusiñol i PratsCau Ferrat Museum
'"Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 - Aranjuez, 1931) set off to Granada for the third time in December 1897 accompanied by the painter and good friend, Ramon Pichot, and Genís Muntaner, his valet in Sitges who used to look after Cau Ferrat in Rusiñol's absence.'
Avenue of Plane Trees (1916) by Santiago RusiñolFundación Banco Santander
'Indeed, he went there so frequently that he was appointed "Honourable Head Gardener of the Royal Gardens of Aranjuez" by Alfonso XIII, precisely in the same year in which he painted this picture (1916). Rusiñol's gardens -- a theme that lasted until his death (coincidentally also in Aranjuez) - often ended up being repetitive and formulaic, and were looked down upon by critics for a long time, although they were moderately vindicated by several French art historians (Jean-Paul Cruz, Genevieve Barbée and Elisée Trenc) as genuine exponents of pictorial Symbolism.'
