The Corpus Christi Procession Leaving the Church of Santa Maria del Mar
Ramon Casas, 1897
This large canvas by Ramon Casas shows the procession of Corpus Christi leaving the church of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, at a moment before the anarchist bombing that shook the city in 1896. The painter does not dwell on the tragedy but on the instant just before it: the procession moves forward between banners, damask hangings on the balconies and young girls dressed for their first Communion, in a festive play of color. That apparent cheer becomes unsettling for anyone who knows what will happen shortly after on Canvis Nous street, since the figures are unaware of the danger approaching, and the painting hints at the chaos only indirectly. The composition, seen from an elevated viewpoint, recalls the method Casas used in Garrote vil. The technique is loose, with quick brushstrokes and little paint, a approach typical of small formats here applied to a canvas of exceptional size. That is why the work matters: it shows how modern painting could tackle public scenes and crowds, a genre that seemed closed to it.
- Painter
- Ramon Casas
- Date
- 1897
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 1155 × 196 cm
- Museum
- Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona
- Movement
- Catalan modernism, Art Nouveau
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