The past of Sitges

Joan Roig i Soler was the leader of the “Luminista “school. In this painting he wanted to express the signs of progress so he painted the railway and the station some month after its opening.
In the same picture we can also see the coast road that supposed a significant travelling improvement. In the same way, the telegraph post that reflects its shadow in the foreground.

This is one of Felip Masó most famous picture representing Saint Bartholomew’s procession, local patron saint. In particular when the popular parade headed by giants and people with wooden sticks walk to the church.
The painter placed the action in an imaginary spot where local elements, as the church, are mixed with other foreign ones, creating a space where lead two streets.

Salvador Robert i Raventós was a multifaceted personality, provided with a deep sensitivity and of a great sense of humour.
Apart from his work as a barber, and his music vocation, he was also a gardener and a farmer for the last fifteen years of his life.
Rusiñol uses the grey and white palette to give the observer the portrayed soul, a look focused on the score and with a thoughtful attitude.

“Pintamones” is the popular and pejorative name given to painters and the tittle which is known the humorous portrait of the group of painters that were involved in the decoration of the Cau Ferrat bar in Sitges.

Duran painted the group of artists in front of the beach, with paint brushes tied to long sticks as they were house painters, in a straight line leaded by Santiago Rusiñol, dressed in white, followed by Duran himself, Antoni Almirall, Arcadi Mas I Fondevila, Joaquim de Miró I Miquel Utrillo, they go with Love, Rusiñol’s little dog. They were leaving a white and blue paint trace in their way pouring from the buckets.

At the end of the XIX century in some European capitals breweries changed to trending spots where artistic social lounges were organized.
In the year 1895 the transformation of the Continental Café to the Cau Ferrat brewery cannot be dissociate from the presence of the light painters in Sitges and their relation with Santiago Rusiñol.
This is the owner’s portrait, Pere Forment, known as Cuca that Rusiñol immortalize during his work.

The brewery, located in Ribera promenade, was closed in 1905.

In this painting Joaquim Miró painted an everyday life scene in Sitges at the end of the XIX century, when the vineyard farming, especially malmsey, its production, commercialization and exportation was one of the bases of the local economy.

In the centre of the picture a young seated woman picking up malmsey grapes, on the skyline, behind the vineyard, we can see the line of little white house of the village, church tower and the sea.

This sculpture of Pere Jou represents Sitges under a naked woman form, half kneeled holding a malmsey grape in front of her face as he has to bite it.

The work keeps the textures contrast between her roughness hair and the basis and polishing of the skin that gives a touch of sensuality, very characteristic of the sculpture stone figures.

It’s not casual that Jou joined the representation of Sitges to the malmsey, as for centuries its farming and sweet wine production, commercialization and exportation were closely tied to the village name.