Santiago Rusiñol y Prats (Spanish, 1861-1931)

Born in Barcelona in 1861, Santiago Rusiñol’s family were wealthy industrialists with successful interests in textiles. Rejecting the opportunity to work within the family firm, Rusiñol developed his early talent as a painter and studied to be an artist.
Rusiñol’s poetic artistic language has its roots in the time he spent in Paris in the early 1890’s. Living in Montmartre alongside fellow Spanish artists Ramon Casas and Ignacio Zuloaga, he developed a love of modernism. At this time he also started his association with the Brussels-based avant-garde group of artists known at Les XX, whose founder members included Fernand Khnopff and James Ensor. The group became influential for modernist and symbolist artists, poets and writers, including James McNeill Whistler, whose influence on the Spanish artist was particularly notable. On his return to Spain, Rusiñol developed his unique style which he translated into poetic paintings of landscapes and gardens, rendered in heightened, vibrant tones.
We are grateful to Mercedes Palau-Ribes for her assistance with this catalogue entry.