La Morfina (Morphine)

"In 1894, on his third and last stay in Paris, Rusiñol painted two very similar canvases which featured a thin, ill girl. In La medalla (The Medal) [on your left] you can see the girl sitting up in bed looking at a small, shiny object that she is holding in her hands. In La morfinòmana (The Morphine Addict), the model – who seems to be different than in the previous painting – appears lying down on the bed under the effects of the drug, after she has taken the morphine. Even though they are not the same size (the first is larger than the second), both paintings capture the before and after scenes in the same sequence. For this reason, La medalla (The Medal) is also known as Abans de prendre l’alcaloide (Before Taking the Alkaloid). The morphine addict in the painting was Stephanie Nantas, the painter’s favourite model during the months he sojourned in the flat on Quai Bourbon. Rusiñol featured her in almost a dozen works from that period, always anonymously except in the portrait that bears her name, Rêverie (Stephanie Nantas), which the artist wanted to keep for his own private collection and is on display in the Gran Saló (Main Hall). (Museu del Cau Ferrat, Sitges 30715)"