The Museum of Cau Ferrat is located in Sitges, the famous Catalan beach resort. Cau Ferrat is located on the coast of Sant Sebastian, one of Sitges’ most popular beaches. The building was home to one of Sitges’ most notorious artists Santiago Rusiñol, one of the main figures on the Catalan Modernism movement.
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Rusiñol was part of a middle-class family and was meant to follow the family’s tradition to become a cotton manufacturer. Rusiñol chose to follow a different path, and decided to join the artistic scene of Catalonia. Sitges was the place chosen by Rusiñol to spread his religious theory of the total art, when art is considered to be a religion. The movement made Sitges the Vatican of Modernism and of him the Pope of the movement. He aimed to transform society through art and culture, and he was able to create a whole mythology around his figure.
The building was left on a will to God, and after an authorization of sale from the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Barcelona was made, the house was sold. Rusiñol renewed the place to make it his home and studio, and named it Cau Ferrat, as it was the name of the studio he lived in Barcelona. In 1894 the house next door was bought to be incorporated to the building as it is nowadays. In 1895 he celebrated the 3rd Festa Modernista and scheduled it on the same day he received two pictures by El Greco he had acquired in France a few months earlier.
Nowadays the museum had collections of paintings, drawings and iron sculptures. The collections are made up by Rusiñol’s favorite pieces, the ones he had an emotional connection with. Many pieces of famous Catalan artists are also exposed, such as Pablo Picasso and Ramon Casas. The artwork represents Rusiñol’s personal tastes and preferences and also many of the time’s trends in art. Most of the work was done by the artist himself. The museum has a collection of Glassware that has over 400 pieces acquired by him. The glass collection is divided into a modern collection and antique glassware. The furniture and sculptures are also part of the collection, although they might pass unnoticed as decorative pieces. The museum also exhibits a wide collection of ceramics with over 200 pieces concentrated mainly in the ground floor of the house.
Museu Cau Ferrat is one of Sitges’ main museums and is located downtown the village. Sitges is a 30 minutes train ride from the Catalan Capital of Barcelona.