Where shall we go! (Bosnians)
1884. Oil on canvas.On display elsewhere
The artist submitted four paintings of particular importance to the National Exhibition of 1884, as the success achieved by three of them would bring him recognition on the national and international art scene. Two of them were purchased by the Government: Where Are We Going! (Bosnians) and On the Move (Bosnians) (P007645). Both portray typical Bohemians who make their monkeys and bears dance through the streets and squares to the sound of music. The two paintings were conceived as a pair, the second expanding the plot of the first in which characters consider a destination for their next performance. In the second they are set out on their way to it. These two paintings were highly regarded by both the public and by peers, as evidenced by the numerous engraved reproductions of them published in the illustrated press, as well as the large number of copies made after their arrival at the Museo del Prado, which have sometimes mistakenly appeared on the market as originals. According to the Museum´s Copyists´ Books, both paintings were copied more than thirty times between 1884 and 1896 by several painters (including Víctor Esteban Lozano) and amateurs. This is a much higher figure than that recorded for copies of Carlist customs officers registering a stagecoach (P004829), the other painting by the La Mancha-born painter extant at the Museo del Prado.
Martínez Plaza, P.J., Joaquín Araujo Ruano (1851-1894) Nuevas aportaciones a su vida y obra. I Congreso Nacional Ciudad Real y su provincia, Instituto de Estudios Manchegos, CSIC, 2015, p.252-268 [256, nt.29]
