Artwork
On Campaign
On Campaign is an oil painting by the Art Nouveau artist Santiago Rusiñol i Prats. It dates from 1896 and is held in the collection of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.
About this work
Overview
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats executed *On Campaign* in 1896 with oil on canvas. The work is part of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya’s collection and exemplifies the artist’s involvement in the Catalan modernisme, a movement aligned with the broader Art Nouveau currents of the late nineteenth century.
Subject & Meaning
The canvas depicts a man and a woman seated on a sandbank, engaged in a quiet exchange. The male figure, clad in a blue jacket and a red hat, and the female figure, wearing a modest gray dress, face one another, suggesting an intimate conversation set against a tranquil, rural landscape.
Technique & Style
Rusiñol employs a restrained palette of earthy tones, allowing natural light to suffuse the scene with warmth. Careful rendering of the figures’ clothing and facial expressions demonstrates his attention to detail, while the soft modeling of forms reflects the fluid brushwork typical of modernisme’s decorative sensibility.
History & Provenance
Since its creation, the painting has remained in public ownership, entering the holdings of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, where it is displayed among other works from the artist’s prolific output of more than a thousand canvases.
Context
Created during a period when Rusiñol was active as a poet, journalist, playwright, and collector, the work reflects his multidisciplinary interests. The inclusion of a windmill and modest architecture in the background situates the scene within the Catalan countryside, a recurring motif in his oeuvre.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (Catalan: , Spanish: ; Barcelona 25 February 1861 – Aranjuez 13 June 1931) was a Spanish painter, poet, journalist, collector and playwright.
