The rise of Impressionism in Paris encouraged the leading Spanish painters to look to the French capital, which was at that date the paradigm of modernity and an example to be imitated by new generations of artists. This was the case of Santiago Rusiñol, who during his time in Paris admired the work of Claude Monet (also present in this exhibition). In his landscapes Rusiñol thus began to cultivate a type of luminist painting closely linked to Impressionism but one that maintained its distinctive Symbolist connotations. Notably influenced by Rusiñol’s evolution, Eliseu Meifrèn focused his output on the depiction of gardens and in his late period produced works of enormous freedom of execution and a palette that reveals the influence of Impressionism, including the work of Alfred Sisley and Armand Guillaumin, both present in the exhibition.