Ramón Pichot Gironés

RAMÓN PICHOT GIRONÉS (Barcelona, 1872 - Paris, 1925).
"Pilgrimage in Camprodón".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner, signed and located on the back.
Golden frame, with lack of polychrome.
Measurements: 85 x 118 cm; 94 x 128 cm (frame).

In this animated representation of a popular party celebrated in a Catalan village, Ramón Pichot unfolds before a landscape of wide perspective multitude of anecdotic scenes: a woman is engrossed in the reading of a novel while her companion has chosen to place the book as hat; other groups are clustered around the snack (baskets of fruit and jugs of wine) that they share, and more in the distance, we see a group that goes towards the whitewashed hermitage that is cut in the bottom. The farmers are accompanied by donkeys and horses, and cows graze and rest in the lush valley. In the distance, a hollow path enters the forest. Catalan barretinas, knotted neckerchiefs, yellow and crimson dresses are outlined on an emerald meadow. The layers of color define the folkloric details (knotted neckerchiefs, yellow and carmine dresses...) and enclose the figures with rounded volumes giving them a plastic presence on the emerald meadow.

Trained between Barcelona and Paris, Ramon Pichot belonged to the Colla del Safrà and frequented the circle of Rusiñol and Casas. He soon participated in the Fine Arts Exhibitions of Barcelona in 1894, 1986 and 1898. At the same time, he assiduously attended the annual exhibitions of the Sala Parés, and in 1898 he showed his work at the Salon National in Paris. In 1898 he illustrated the first edition of Rusiñol's "Leaves of Life", and shortly afterwards he traveled with him to Granada. There he made a series of works that were grouped together in the exhibition "La España vieja" (Old Spain), which took place in 1899 in Barcelona and Madrid. Settled in Paris, he exhibited with Picasso at the B. Weill gallery in 1902. Weill in 1902, and attended the salons of the Independents, National and Autumn. Until his death he continued to exhibit individually in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid, both paintings and etchings. His 1910 exhibition stood out, which was praised by Apollinaire at the time. His work as an early mentor of Salvador Dalí, whom he met in Cadaqués when the latter was only 10 years old, was outstanding. Stylistically ambiguous, Ramon Pichot became part of the fully symbolist modernism, but at the beginning of the century his style drifted towards primitivism, influenced by Gauguin. Part of his success abroad is due to his genre, gypsy and seafaring themes. His work is present in the MACBA and the Cau Ferrat in Sitges.