Museu del Cau Ferrat

Cau Ferrat museum is the studio-home of the artist Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 – Aranjuez, 1931), who had it built between 1893 and 1894 with the help of the architect Francesc Rogent in order to house his art collections. Everything in Cau Ferrat was designed by Santiago Rusiñol.

The difference in styles of the ground floor and the Great Salon on the first floor is striking.  The lower floor respects the characteristics of popular Catalan architecture, with the addition of artistic elements.  It comprises the Hall, the Dining Room and its large Kitchen complete with fireplace, the Study –where the artist worked–, the Bedroom and adjoining Alcove and above all, the Fountain Room with its large art nouveau window (1893).  The first floor (1894) is entirely taken up by the art nouveau Great Salon in the neo-gothic style and its Italianate loggia.

Cau Ferrat exhibits collections of ancient art (paintings –El Greco–, ironwork, ceramics, glass, archeology, sculpture and furniture) and modern art (paintings, drawings and sculpture), with works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Enric Clarasó, Miquel Utrillo, Hermen Anglada-Camarasa, Ramon Pichot, Arcadi Mas i Fondevila, Joaquim de Miró, Ignacio Zuloaga, Darío de Regoyos, William Degouve de Nuncques, Gustau Violet, Manolo Hugué, Isidre Nonell, Carles Casagemas, Pablo Picasso and Pau Gargallo, to name but a few. This is a unique collection where each work of art is a testimonial to a particular moment in Rusiñol’s life. These exhibits, combined with the building itself, exemplify the taste for art nouveau in all aspects of artistic creativity.

Anem de visita

From the very outset, Cau Ferrat was to become the epicentre of Art Nouveau and an emblematic place. It was visited by all sorts of personalities, such as Joan Maragall, Àngel Guimerà, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Victor Balaguer, Ángel Ganivet, Enric Morera, Pau Casals, Rubén Dario, Manuel de Falla, Carlos Gardel, Federico García Lorca et Pablo Picasso, as well as many others.

Santiago Rusiñol bequeathed Cau Ferrat to the town of Sitges “as a token of the affection he felt for its residents”. When Joaquim Folch i Torres became responsible for converting the building for public visiting, Art Nouveau became officially recognized as worthy of being in a museum.  It first opened to the public in 1933 and was completely renovated in 2014. Today it still embodies the spirit of art nouveau and the cult of Total Art that Rusiñol had crafted it to be.

 

Information and bookings:

Tel. (00 34) 938 940 364, ext. 1

To buy tickets online

Santiago Rusiñol

Santiago Rusiñol (Barcelona, 1861 – Aranjuez, 1931), the painter, writer, art collector and traveler, produced an extensive pictorial and literary work.  As a young man, he became interested both in collecting and painting and had soon amassed a considerable collection of ironwork, paintings and other artistic items.  He spent several periods living in Paris between 1889 and 1895 and his work evolved from Naturalism to Symbolism and contributed to the modernization of Spanish painting. The years between 1893 and 1899 saw Rusiñol convert Cau Ferrat into the epicentre of Art Nouveau and he was recognized as a forerunner of Spanish modernity. By the turn of the century, Rusiñol had started concentrating entirely on landscape painting, although at the same time he developed considerable literary renown with his narrative, theatrical and journalistic writing.