Santiago Rusiñol got to know Sitges in October 1891 and since then he maintained a relationship of high esteem with this town. Sitges had already been discovered by the artists of what was called the Luminist School, some of them old acquaintances of the painter. In Sitges, Rusiñol’s paintings became full of color, as he left behind the gray and earthy colors of his previous stage in Paris. But it wasn’t just the landscape and the light that captured the painter. His relationship of friendship and respect with the locals reinforced his idea of having a home in town.
Sitges represented a way of life and of living very far from the urban society of nearby Barcelona, where the havoc of industrialization had not only transformed its appearance but, above all, had created a new society that lived in permanent conflict.
Sitges was a refuge, a small, nearby paradise where he could paint and from where he could make his proclamations aimed at transforming art and the way of bringing it closer to society.