Galeria blanca (White veranda)

"Santiago Rusiñol, a multifaceted artist, writer, journalist, promoter of cultural activities and collector, was born in Barcelona to a family which worked in the textile industry. Despite the fact that he was destined to run the family company, his passion for art led him to break away from all that and head to Paris, which was regarded as the capital of modern art at the time. Rusiñol stopped in Sitges for the first time an October’s day in 1891, on his way to Vilanova to visit Víctor Balaguer. His friend Ramon Casas and Eliseu Meifrèn had been there for just a few weeks, Casas painting interiors and blue patios, and Meifrèn landscapes. In Sitges, Rusiñol felt captivated by the climate, the peace and quiet, the light, the colours and the friendliness of the people he met there. Plus, the group of Luminist painters were there, too. From that day through the next decade, Rusiñol maintained an intense relationship with the town. In 1893, he had his own home built, which he called Cau Ferrat, just like the studio he had shared with his friend the sculptor Enric Clarasó on Muntaner Street in Barcelona. Galeria blanca (White Gallery), painted during his early years in Sitges, clearly shows the influence of the painters from the Luminist School because it explores the effects of light on the whitewashed walls of the gallery of Can Falç, a house from the 16th Century now managed by the Sitges Heritage Consortium. However, Rusiñol did not limit himself to reproduce the contrasts of light; instead he also chose a shaded place in decline which conveys to the viewer a sense of silence and solitude, evoking a specific mood. (Museu de Maricel, Sitges, Col. d'Art de la Vila, 34827) "