The party
1890. Oil on canvas.Not on display
Among the numerous examples of the work of Ignacio Pinazo at the Museo del Prado, this is perhaps the painting that best testifies to the degree of modernity achieved by the artist in his full maturity. This was truly unique in the panorama of Spanish painting of his time. The artist creates the work with a plastic language bordering on abstraction, and the abundant use of the palette knife on coloured spots barely suggests the figures. In some areas, the preparation of the canvas and the absolute predominance of the plastic effects over any figurative precision is even discernible. These elements are clear proof of the artist´s avant-gardism relative to his time. As early as 1890, this announced plastic conquests that were not achieved in Spanish painting until well into this century.
Indeed, his concern for textures and the vehemence of his technique, insisted on in some areas with real delight and barely stained in other areas of the canvas, show the freest and most personal Pinazo. He reached such heights of daring in this work that he always kept it in his possession, and he later passed it on to his son Ignacio. In this work, Pinazo shows only his concern for compositional effects and colour spots, among which we can barely discern a group of people under an archway covered with leaves. However, it is not the only work of this type by the master from Godella, who regularly liked to paint sketches of groups of people in movement, rather than the individual characterisation of the figures.
Museo Nacional del Prado, Maestros de la pintura valenciana: del siglo XIX en el Museo, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1997, p.154 nº25
