In the nineteenth century, Painter Ramon Casas i Carbó (1866–1932) became the leading figure of Catalan Modernisme. He is mainly remembered for his portraits of the wealthy and the elite, and his posters and postcards. However, something that has been barely discussed about Casas and his art is that he also painted many picturesque portraits in which he highlights the beauty and sensuality of women.
This time we’ve decided to offer a selection of the women he painted, because his portraits transformed the image of the nineteenth century woman. The prevailing aesthetic ideal of feminine beauty during that century depicted women as delicate and sophisticated beings that knew nothing about carnal pleasure.
Casas does exactly the same thing with his painting, only with the huge difference that his paintings do not neglect female sexuality. These portraits show a new image of a woman who, apart from being delicate, seeks her own pleasure and gets lost in ecstasy. Through these portraits, we can rediscover different sides of female sexuality according to their century’s context.
Casas liked to paint and satirize the bourgeois lifestyle. He knew that many sexual secrets were hidden behind a facade of sophistication. Highborn young women were educated through the reading and learning of “appropriate” books, manners, and clothing… This lifestyle sounds pretty boring, don’t you think? No wonder that many of these young and lovely ladies would use their leisure time to explore their own bodies.
Women who carried sexual practices alone were regarded as sinful and immoral. Casas concurred to some degree with this vision: he did think lust was a temptation sent by the devil, but also considered it a highly artistic inspiration. He loved to paint his wife, Julia Peraire, —who was 22 years younger than him— in sensual postures, with her gaze fixed on the spectator.
Casas was no hypocrite. He knew perfectly that in those times many people carried out libertine practices and excesses. People just pretended to wear a mask of good behavior and piety. Eroticism was something forbidden, but at the same time something that was displayed with great cynicism, so he didn’t hesitate to reflect it in his paintings.
Casas’ paintings portray women with a strong sex appetite. These are women who would escape during nighttime and go from party to party, seeking a way to satisfy their desires and their thirst for new sexual encounters. But during the day, they recovered their semblance of modesty and respectfulness. Notwithstanding this, the painter glorified those divine and pure qualities that were attributed to women. For that reason, he was always careful in his representation of sensuality and purity.
Casas defined his works as subtle lines and imperceptible brushstrokes whose connotations reached beyond the passion he felt for his wife or any man felt for a woman. He knew people lived repressing themselves every day; therefore, they were always seeking the next opportunity to indulge in promiscuity. Another characteristic of his style was leaving pictures incomplete in order to let the spectator’s imagination run wild.
Some of his detractors said he liked to highlight female beauty and sexuality because he objectified women. Meanwhile, others admired his erotic and sexual, yet refined style.
Casas defended his work from severe criticism, and also mocked the critics, by arguing that his paintings only portrayed what women wanted in sex. He would always speak his mind as a demonstration against the hypocrisy of the higher strata and their abuse towards the underprivileged. Moreover, his erotic paintings also served as political statements.
These paintings are traces of the way Ramon Casas sought to ennoble the beauty of the female body, while defending sexual liberation and acknowledgement of sex, masturbation, and pleasure as parts of human nature.
Source:
“Ramon Casas, much yearned modernity”
You may also like:
The Artist Who Turned Female Eroticism Into Art Nouveau
Translated by Andrea Valle Gracia
