Carles Casagemas

CARLES CASAGEMAS (Barcelona, 1880–Paris, 1901).
“Folk Dance.”
Mixed media (charcoal and crayons) on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 15 x 10 cm; 55 x 46 cm (frame).

Despite Casagemas’s premature death at age 21 and his limited output, his work is among the most extraordinary in Catalan art and is characterized by strong social criticism and a bleak portrayal of poverty. It is interesting to note that, although he is traditionally remembered for the impact his suicide had on Picasso’s Blue Period, the most recent studies reaffirm Casagemas as an artist with his own identity and not merely as a biographical figure in Picasso’s life.

We are looking at a work that is fully representative of Carles Casagemas’s artistic language, though it has a less dramatic atmosphere than some of his best-known compositions. In this “Folk Dance,” the artist highlights several recurring themes in his work: an expressive treatment of the human figure and a particular interest in capturing the atmosphere of the scene rather than realistic detail. The figures are rendered with a fluid, energetic line, defined by dark outlines and barely sketched forms that convey dynamism and emotion. The composition centers on a dancing couple, surrounded by other figures, in a scene of a popular nature—a common theme in late-19th-century Modernism—reinterpreted through an intimate and slightly melancholic sensibility. The color palette, dominated by greens, blues, and ochres applied with a free hand, moves away from naturalism to enhance the expressiveness and emotional vibrancy of the work as a whole.

Carles Casagemas was one of the most unique and promising figures of the second generation of Catalan Modernism. A part of Barcelona’s bohemian scene, he frequented the café Els Quatre Gats—a veritable gathering place for artists and intellectuals—and actively participated in the artistic renewal of the late 19th century. In 1900, he held an exhibition there and formed a close friendship with Pablo Picasso, with whom he shared a studio in Barcelona and traveled to Paris to visit the World’s Fair. During his stay in the French capital, he came into contact with avant-garde artistic movements and developed a visual language influenced particularly by Isidre Nonell, based on highly expressive drawing, the formal simplification of figures, and a marked sensitivity to the atmosphere and emotional content of the scenes. Although his career was brief due to his untimely death in 1901, his work stands as a significant testament to Catalan Modernism because of the intensity of his brushwork, his freedom with color, and his psychological treatment of his subjects. His suicide, at barely twenty years of age, had a profound impact on Picasso and is considered one of the events that led to the beginning of his Blue Period, a phase during which the painter from Málaga created several works in memory of his friend. Today, Casagemas’s work is part of major collections, including those of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), the Cau Ferrat, and the Museu d’Art de Sabadell.