Spanish painter, writer, collector and artistic promoter.

Santiago Rusiñol was born on February 25, 1861 in Barcelona (Spain). His parents were Joan Rusiñol and Amalia Prats.

After primary school, Santiago began working in the family textile business. Meanwhile, he studied painting with Tomás Moragas, who encouraged him to exhibit his work "Interior de taller" (1878/1879) at the Sala Parés in Barcelona in 1879. He supported and belonged to the Associació d'Excursions Catalana, for which he published "Impressions d'una excursió al Taga, Sant Joan de las Abadesas y Ripoll" in the 1882 yearbook. In 1883, after the death of his father, he took over the family business.

A multi-faceted artist, Rusiñol continued to publish articles on art and country outings in periodicals like the modernist magazine "L'Avens" (1884) and "La Vanguardia" until 1896. In 1886 he married Lluïsa Denis. After the death of his grandfather, Jaume Rusiñol Bosch, in 1887, he handed over the company to his brother Alberto to devote himself fully to painting. He was named treasurer of the board of the Ateneu Barcelonès, debuted at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid, and visited Granada for the first time, producing several landscape paintings while there. He regularly exhibited at the Sala Parés and had a solo exhibition at the gallery in 1888. That year marked the beginning of his European travels.

Rusiñol completed his education in Paris between 1889 and 1895, attending classes at the Académie de la Palette and expanding his circle of creative friends to include Erik Satie, Ignacio Zuloaga and Miquel Utrillo. He exhibited at the Salon du Champ-de-Mars for the first time in 1890. The same year, he exhibited again in Barcelona alongside Ramón Casas and Enric Clarasó, forming what came to be a familiar trio on the local art scene. Influenced by the work of James McNeill Whistler, he painted pictures like "Retrato de mujer" and "Retrato d'en Cuca" (1895).

In 1893, on one of his frequent visits to the Barcelona town of Sitges, Rusiñol purchased two fishermen's houses and turned them into a studio and residence. As he kept his collection of antiques and artistic ironwork there, he named the house Cau Ferrat (Iron Haven or Iron Cave). Every year, from 1892 to 1899, he organised the Festes modernistes at Sitges, a festival of literary gatherings, exhibitions, concerts, plays and operatic works like "La fada" (1897), with a libretto by Jaume Massó set to music by Enric Morera, or "L'alegria que passa" (1899), also composed by Morera and written by Rusiñol himself. After his 1895 visit to Granada, when he painted "Granadina", his work began to focus on the theme of gardens. His "Jardins d'Espagne" series was a great success at Sigfried Bing's Art Nouveau gallery in Paris in 1899.

As a playwright, Rusiñol wrote works such as "Llibertat" (1901), "El pati blau" (1903) and "El místic" (1903) that were premiered at the Teatro Romea in Barcelona. His renowned five-act comedy "L'Auca del senyor Esteve" (1917) opened at the Teatro Victoria in Barcelona. In 1907 he began writing for the satirical weekly "L'Esquella de la Torratxa" under the pseudonym "Xarau".

Rusiñol returned to Granada in June 1922 for the Cante Jondo Contest, as he was a member of the organising committee along with Manuel de Falla and other personalities from the composer's circle of acquaintances. He devoted the final years of his life to painting landscapes, often at the royal sites of Aranjuez and La Granja, and received many tributes, including the events of 1926 in Sitges, Barcelona, Rubí and Sant Cugat del Vallès.

Rusiñol's pictorial oeuvre won distinctions at the Barcelona Universal Exhibition (1888, 1927 and 1929) and the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid (1890 and 1895), as well as exhibitions in Paris (1889), Berlin (1891) and Chicago (1893). His extensive literary output, written in Catalan, was translated into Spanish, French, Italian, English, Portuguese, Hungarian and Esperanto. Some of his plays have been staged with enormous success in both Spain and Argentina. He passed away on June 13, 1931 in Aranjuez (Madrid, Spain).

Tras el fallecimiento de Rusiñol, su casa y su colección fueron donadas al municipio de Sitges, donde en 1933 se inauguró el Museu del Cau Ferrat.