Museo Carmen Thyssen

Bourgeois, Bohemians, successful painters in Spain and Europe and foremost practitioners of Catalan modernism, Ramón Casas (1866–1932) and Santiago Rusiñol (1861–1931) are two of the great Spanish artists of the late 1800s who revitalised the painting scene of their day and ushered in the modernity that would lead to the emergence of the avant-garde in the twentieth century.

They were close friends and colleagues who shared successes from the time they met in the 1880s and throughout their lives, exhibiting together at the Sala Parés in Barcelona on many occasions from 1890 to 1931. The Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga sets out to reunite the two masters in this exhibition, which examines both what they had in common – their friendship, the same art scenes (Paris and Catalonia,','), their contribution to modernism, their work as poster designers – and the different paths they pursued, especially the choice of the main subjects of their painting.

Ramón Casas, Open Air Interior, 1892
Oil on canvas, 160.5 x 121 cm
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection