Santiago Rusiñol
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats ( born February 25, 1861 in Barcelona, † June 13, 1931 in Aranjuez ) was a Catalan painter, writer, journalist and playwright. He was one of the most outstanding and prolific artists of Modernism.
Life
As the heir to a dynasty of textile manufacturers from Manlleu Rusinol was mapped out a career in the family business, but he abandoned at the age of 28 years to devote himself entirely to art. For the purpose of studying painting he went ( leaving behind his wife and child ) to Paris, where he lived from 1889 to 1893 in the Montmartre district. He trained in painting of the plein-air and put together with other Spanish and Catalan artists - as his friends Ramon Casas and Ignacio Zuloaga - first works from. At this time he also began writing and regularly published articles in the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.
His financial position allowed him to travel extensively. He led the life of a bohemian who could indulge in all the l' art pour l'art. After his return to Catalonia he founded in the small coastal town of Sitges near Barcelona, the workshop - museum Cau Ferrat ( "iron den " ), in which he put a large collection of traditional wrought iron art. It became an important meeting place for artists. In Barcelona Rusinol was a frequent guest at the café Els Quatre Gats restaurant ( " The Four hangover " ), where he met with the young Pablo Picasso and other artists and has organized numerous exhibitions and readings.
Work
Rusiñols painting is strongly influenced by Impressionism and initially includes a wide variety of themes - rural as well as urban scenes, portraits as well as symbolic compositions. From 1894 onwards a destructive morphine addiction influenced his life and work. From this period, some of his most famous paintings, such as La morfina ( " The morphine addicts " ) and La medalla ( " The Medal" line). After a Entzugskur in 1899 he turned quite a new subject to which he remained faithful until his death: Gardens and parks that he is almost always deserted. For this purpose he traveled among other things to Mallorca, Ibiza, Valencia, Gerona, Cuenca and Aranjuez.
In addition to the painting operation Rusinol equally intense writing. So he delivered himself about in his commentary for the newspaper L' Esquella de la Torratxa 1907-1925 under the pseudonym Xarau a long-lasting, eloquent slugfest with the writer Eugeni d' Ors, under the name Xênius in the newspaper La Veu de Catalunya had become one of the most popular representatives of the noucentisme, a flow of the Catalan cultural life, which emerged as a countermovement to Modernism in the early 20th century. In addition Rusinol authored numerous books and plays.