The Red Committee
1901. Oil on canvas.Room 061A
Lluís Graner was an active figure within the “Modernisme” movement, alongside artists such as Rusiñol and Casas, but his modernity was expressed most distinctively through his brief yet significant role as a theatrical entrepreneur. Between 1904 and 1908, he organized the “Espectacles i Audicions Graner”—first at the Sala Mercè and later at the Teatro Principal in Barcelona. These performances were so innovative in conception that, in addition to text, scenography, and music, they incorporated early cinematic elements, at a time when film was still in its infancy.
Graner’s shift toward theatrical experimentation was prompted by disappointment: in the 1904 National exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid, he received no award despite submitting eight paintings, two of which were large-scale. As a painter, Graner did not align himself with the burgeoning Impressionist or Symbolist styles—then the dominant markers of pictorial modernity across the Western world. Instead, his work remained grounded in naturalism, enriched by a near-constant preoccupation with the interplay of light and shadow. This approach often produced results reminiscent of a modern reworking of Baroque tenebrism. As a result, his paintings, typically set in dark interiors or nighttime exteriors, frequently feature a dramatic focal point of light—be it fire or sunlight filtering through a window.
In this particular work, the contrast in lighting is more subdued than in others. The diffuse daylight entering through a window, partially veiled by a curtain, suggests that the presumed syndicalists depicted in this clandestine meeting do not wish to be seen from outside. The painting—already titled “The Red Committee” at the time of its creation, with the curtain itself notably red, whether intentionally or not—clearly alludes to the labor struggle in Catalonia, a region that, due to its advanced industrialization, was frequently marked by labor unrest.
Nevertheless, the “Red Committee” portrayed here, composed of ten figures, must be understood in a general or symbolic sense, as no specific syndicalist organization bearing that name is known to have existed at the time. The painting may be linked to the republican groups promoted by Alejandro Lerroux under the banner of “Red Youth” or “Red Ladies.” Notably, the year the painting was completed—1901—was also the year Lerroux arrived in Barcelona.
The subject matter of this painting, which received a Second-Class Medal at the 1901 National exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid, is therefore fully aligned with the new thematic orientation of artworks that succeeded the long-dominant tradition of history painting, now transformed into works of explicit social content.
Fontbona, Francesc, 'Lluis Graner. El comité rojo'. Arte y transformaciones sociales en España (1885-1910), Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2024, p.387-388 nº.281
