Cau Ferrat Museum

The Cau Ferrat Museum is an art and biographical museum located in Sitges, Spain, situated on the shores of Sant Sebastia beach in the old Sant Joan district. It occupies the former home and studio of the artist and writer Santiago Rusinol, a central figure of the Catalan Modernisme movement. Founded by Rusinol in 1893 as a creative refuge and workshop, the institution opened to the public as a museum in 1933 following his bequest. It preserves the artistic spirit of its founder and stands as a key cultural institution within the Museus de Sitges network, exemplifying the Modernista integration of art, architecture, and daily life.

Santiago Rusinol arrived in Sitges in late 1891 and organized the first Festa Modernista in early 1892. In spring 1893, he purchased a small fisherman's house, a sale that required authorization from the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Barcelona because the previous owner had bequeathed the property to God. Rusinol paid 1,000 pesetas for the structure and 2,000 pesetas to demolish and rebuild it. He commissioned architect Francesc Rogent for the design. The studio was inaugurated in a small ceremony on September 11, 1893, inheriting the name Cau Ferrat from Rusinol's previous Barcelona studio shared with sculptor Enric Claraso. The name combines cau, meaning lair or nest, and ferrat, referring to his extensive collection of wrought iron. In May 1894, Rusinol bought the adjacent house to expand the building. A larger official inauguration occurred on November 4, 1894, during the third Festa Modernista, timed with the arrival of two El Greco paintings Rusinol had acquired in Paris. The site became a gathering place for fin-de-siecle bohemians, including Joan Maragall, Eugène Ysaye, Enrique Granados, and Manuel de Falla. Upon his death in 1931, Rusinol bequeathed the building and its contents to the town of Sitges on the condition it become a public museum. The city received the legacy in December 1932, and the museum opened on April 16, 1933, under the direction of Joaquim Folch i Torres of the Junta de Museos de Cataluna. The building underwent a major structural refurbishment between 2010 and 2014 to address moisture and salinity issues, reopening in late 2014.

The museum's holdings reflect the multifaceted interests of Rusinol as an artist, collector, amateur archaeologist, and intellectual. The collection formed in three main phases: first, the gathering of wrought iron and antique pieces; second, the period inside Cau Ferrat starting with the 1894 El Greco purchase and ending in 1902 with the acquisition of a glass collection; and third, a later phase incorporating pre-Roman and Punic archaeological pieces, Ramon Casas vignettes, and traditional ceramics from Rusinol's travels. The museum preserves ancient art gathered by Rusinol, including painting, forged iron, ceramics, glass, archaeology, sculpture, and furniture, alongside modern art featuring painting, drawing, and sculpture. The display follows a dense horror vacui aesthetic, filling the rooms with art to create an immersive Modernista environment. Paintings and drawings, alongside ironwork, constitute the largest segment of the collection by number of items.