Sardanas en la fuente de san Roque de Olot

In 1901 Ramón Casas painted this large scene of sardanas at the fountain of San Roque in Olot, a town in the Garrotxa region of Catalonia. The work is an oil on canvas of generous proportions, and its subject is the sardana, the circular dance performed in Catalan squares that had become a powerful emblem of regional identity by the early twentieth century. The painting groups dancers wearing traditional dress, including the Manila shawl and the barretina cap, and the composition is built around the ring of dancers, so the viewer's eye travels around the circle rather than settling on a single figure. Casas was working within the Modernist milieu of Barcelona at the time, and the picture shows his interest in everyday life and popular customs, handled with a descriptive rather than picturesque tone. Because of its scale and subject, it is often regarded as one of the best-known images of the sardana in Catalan art of the period.

Painter

Ramon Casas

Date

1901

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

144 × 201 cm

Museum

Círculo del Liceo, Barcelona

Movement

Art Nouveau

Depicts

sardana, Manila shawl, barretina

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