1. Ramon Casas was known for his paintings of crowd scenes ranging from the audience at a bullfight to the assembly for an execution to rioters in the Barcelona streets.
22 Facts About Ramon Casas
1. 2.
Ramon Casas's father had made a fortune in Matanzas, Cuba; his mother was from a well-off Spanish family.
3.
Ramon Casas became an associate of the Societe d'artistes francaises, allowing him to exhibit two works annually at their salon without having to pass through jury competition.
4.
Ramon Casas's fame continued to spread through Europe and beyond as he exhibited successfully in Madrid, Berlin and at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago ; meanwhile the bohemian circle that included Casas and Rusinol began with greater frequency to organize exhibitions of their own in Barcelona and Sitges.
5.
Ramon Casas largely financed this bar on the ground floor of Casa Marti, a building by Architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch in Montsio Street near the center of Barcelona; it opened in June 1897 and lasted for six years.
6.
The bar hosted tertulias and revolving art exhibits, including one of the first one-man shows by Pablo Picasso; the most prominent piece in its permanent collection was a lighthearted Ramon Casas self-portrait, depicting him smoking a pipe while pedaling a tandem bicycle with Romeu as his stoker.
7.
Ramon Casas designed posters for the cafe, many of which depicted Romeu's gaunt visage.
8.
Ramon Casas executed a series of advertisements for Codorniu, a brand of cava and anisette.
9.
Ramon Casas first painted her in 1906 when she was 18.
10.
Ramon Casas soon became his favorite model and his lover.
11.
Ramon Casas's family did not approve of her; they eventually married, but not until 1922.
12.
Ramon Casas' mother purchased the monastery of Sant Benet de Bages in 1907 and hired Puig i Cadafalch to restore it.
13.
Ramon Casas would spend much time there, and would repeatedly depict the monastery and its surroundings.
14.
Later that year, Ramon Casas began a six-month journey to Cuba and the United States at Deering's invitation.
15.
Ramon Casas's show in Madrid was at the Ministry of Tourism, and featured portraits of the city's leading figures, including the king.
16.
Ramon Casas's life continued in this vein for some time.
17.
Ramon Casas continued to have major exhibits in Spain and France.
18.
In 1916, Ramon Casas and Deering traveled to Tamarit in Lerida.
19.
Up until this time, Ramon Casas had kept his distance from the battles of World War I, but in 1918 he visited the front; he painted a self-portrait wearing a military cape.
20.
In 1922, Ramon Casas finally married Julia Peraire, and in 1924 she came along with him on a trip to the United States, during which he made portraits of the rich and famous.
21.
Ramon Casas continued to paint landscapes and portraits, as well as an anti-tuberculosis poster and others, but by the time of his death in 1932, shortly after the emergence of the Second Spanish Republic, he was already more a figure of the past.
22.
Ramon Casas contracted tuberculosis, a deadly, wide-spread disease of the time, and after a protracted, months-long illness he died on 29 February 1932 at his home on Carrer Descartes in the Sant Gervasi neighborhood of Barcelona, aged 66.