Romero Ressendi could be classified as one of the most unusual and original twentieth-century painters. His unquestionable artistic skill and his unbounded imagination are behind the development of an output that disregarded its social and cultural context, far removed both from academicism and from the new avant-garde movements, focusing instead on the depiction of characters and customs of his native Andalusia, viewed from a highly unique angle.
His works convey a reality rooted in Spain’s painting tradition. The influence of Juan de Valdés Leal (1622-1690) is clearly visible in the underlying tenebrism and the moral message, but one can also note the mark of the most intimate works by Goya (1746-1828) reflected in the excessive and harrowing nature of his creations. From these disparate elements he constructs a highly personal visual imaginary, grounded in his torments and anxieties. However, his work was also indebted to the genre painting so popular in Andalusia, forging an aesthetics verging on the grotesque, with which the artist addressed subject matters completely at odds with the conventions of the time, ranging from death to insanity, from witches’ covens to masks.
This painting displays all the traits of his most personal style, reinterpreting the theme of the Goya-inspired balcony. In it, Romero Ressendi gives good proof of his compositional skills and his technical mastery in the use of colour, contrasting brighter tones with darker ones to achieve a result of great visual wealth. The vibrant execution, obtained through energetic brushwork, reinforced the phantasmagorical appearance of these characters of unreal corporality. And so, by eschewing formal precision, his paintings irradiate a halo of mystery and, at the same time, of foreboding and spirituality.
It is worth noting that Romero Ressendi’s intention was never to flee from reality; he just sought shelter in his own tormented, inaccessible inner world. He was obsessed with the idea of the irreversible passing of time, and he expressed himself through his painting. For this reason, his scenes are always caught between the manifestation of life, conveyed through the soothing tranquillity and the energetic palette with which some of his figures are treated, and the darkness of death, reflected in ghost-like creatures painted with sombre hues. Romero Ressendi’s works disconcerted and continues doing so. They combine spontaneity and profound expression rendered with an impromptu albeit demanding technique, transmitting an unusual controlled aggressiveness, making him the only artist, besides Valdés Leal, who rejected the customary pleasantness of Seville’s traditional painting.