The artwork titled “Romeria Pilgrimage” is a creation by Salvador Dali, dating from circa 1921. Employing gouache on cardboard as its medium, the piece measures 52 by 52 cm. It exemplifies the genres of Cloisonnism and Expressionism, serving as a genre painting that captures a scene from a societal or cultural event. The artwork is currently housed at the Dalí Theatre and Museum located in Figueres, Spain.
In the artwork, viewers are presented with a vibrant congregation of figures gathered around a distinctively stylized church or shrine, painted with a rich cobalt blue that boldly stands against a warm, golden background. Cypress trees, tall and slender, anchor the composition, flanking the structure with their dark, vertical forms. The setting appears to be in the gentle embrace of twilight or approaching evening, with the moon hanging like a pale beacon in the sky and a whimsical, perhaps imaginary, airship or dirigible navigating the serene airspace above.
Foregrounding the church is a lively assembly of people, portrayed in a manner that suggests fellowship and religious festivity. The attendees of the pilgrimage are variously engaged, with some seated at tables and others standing in small clusters or approaching the building. The clothes of the figures, rendered in an array of earthy and pastel tones, intimate a spectrum of individual statuses and roles within the gathering, though the brushwork gives an impressionistic sense to their presence, capturing the essence of the moment more than the detailed likenesses of the individuals. The softness of the figures contrasts with the bold and simplified forms of the environment, delivering a sense of harmony to this snapshot of communal tradition as dictated by the aesthetic principles of Cloisonnism and Expressionism that frame Dali’s early work.
