Great painting artists

RAMON CASAS

Self portrait, 1908 (Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org)

Ramon Casas i Carbó, born in Barcelona on January 4, 1866, and died in the same city on February 29, 1932, is a Spanish painter and poster designer, promoter of Catalan modernism. He is best known for his portraits and caricatures of the Catalan, Spanish and French elite. [Wikipedia]

Garrote vil,1894 (Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org)

Ramon Casas took a course at the academy of Carolus-Duran in Paris (from 1881). Between 1884 and 1889, he often went to Paris to the Gervex Academy where he met the painters Santiago Rusiñol, Eugene Carriere, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes , Theophile Barrau, Miquel Utrillo, Ramon Canudas … Before moving to the mill of the Galette de Montmartre (Paris).
Ramon exhibited a lot in exhibitions of the big cities of Art: Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Chicago, Dallas, Bacelone, …
In 1896 he returned to Spain with his parents in Barcelona. He becomes more active, more professional, more dynamic and more famous, until his death (29/2/1932).
The friendship between Casas and Rusiñol dates from 1888. Casas painted with greater ease than Rusiñol, but the latter knew the artistic circles better and influenced Casas to paint naturalist themes, the great trend of the moment in Barcelona, against the industrialization of the city which was considered as a depersonalization of the true identity of Catalonia. The aesthetic context that influenced the two painters was undoubtedly impressionism with a naturalistic depth.

Over My Dead Body, 1893 (Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org)

Interior at Outdoors, 1892 (Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org)

The name of Ramon Casas is almost unknown in France and USA. Can not find a single book on Casas in French or English. However, in Catalonia, he is THE great artist of the turn of the century, figurehead of modernism – equivalent Barcelona Art Nouveau.

« Madeleine at the Moulin de la Galette » is one of the most famous works of Ramon Casas