The myth of Carmen is based on three materialities: the literary character, brought to life by writer Prosper Mérimée 180 years ago (1845), the protagonist of the opera of the same name, supported musically by composer Georges Bizet 150 years ago (1875), and the female worker from the Tobacco Factory of Seville, as portrayed by Gonzalo de Bilbao in the painting ‘Las Cigarreras’ 110 years ago (1915). «Is Carmen a product of Mérimée, brought to life through Bizet’s musical reinterpretation, or does she owe her existence to the environment that inspired her?» This question, posed by Literature professor Alberto González Troyano in his volume on Sevillian myths (José Manuel Lara Foundation, 2007), focuses on its three artistic expressions.
Each of them, however, had a different fate among their contemporaries. While the publication in French of the novel by the Hispanist Prosper Mérimée, a connoisseur of Spain and Andalusia, achieved notable success, accumulating up to 23 editions before the end of the 19th century, the premiere of Bizet’s opera, on March 3, 1875 in Paris, was a failure. Half-empty auditoriums and negative press reviews affected the musician so much that he chose to leave the French capital and died just three months later, at the young age of 37, without ever setting foot in Sevilla or experiencing the fame of his composition.
Somewhere between success and disappointment was the public presentation of the painting ‘Las Cigarreras’ by the great Sevillian painter Gonzalo de Bilbao, a work in which the artist «paid tribute to the workers of the Tobacco Factory of Seville, whose figure had been widely idealized and mythified throughout the 19th century,» in the words of the Counselor of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozo.
Far from focusing on the romantic trope of the rebellious ‘Carmen,’ Gonzalo Bilbao «captured in his monumental painting the true working conditions of these female workers at that time,» says del Pozo. Not in vain, the artist had spent at least five years visiting the Tobacco Factory galleries to portray them.
An idea also echoed by Lourdes Páez, curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville: «the apparent kindness of the scene portrayed in the foreground of the painting, where a cigar maker breastfeeds her child in front of her colleagues, reflects the sad reality of a lack of work-life balance for the workers of the Tobacco Factory in Seville,» the historian points out. Bilbao’s denunciation of this situation is also evident in the large format of the canvas (305 x 402 cm) «typical of large history paintings, giving it an epic character, while giving it a ‘Velazquez-esque’ air, with a loose brushstroke reminiscent of ‘Las Hilanderas’,» Páez emphasizes.
Displayed, alongside its eleven preparatory studies, at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Madrid in the spring of 1915, against all odds, and despite the enormous anticipation it had generated among specialist critics and the general public, the painting did not receive the Gold Medal. The reaction of the Sevillians was swift.
Completed by Bilbao in a period of maturity, at the age of 55, the painting «marked a before and after, both in its social consideration in the city and in the definition of its artistic style, while also representing a turning point in Sevillian painting at the time,» advances Valme Muñoz, director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, where the work is on permanent display.
The admiration and fame of Gonzalo Bilbao in Seville was widely acknowledged upon his return from the National Exhibition in Madrid in 1915. The Sevillian society organized a series of «reparation events» believing he had been unjustly deprived of the highest recognition. Among them, the massive reception he received upon arrival at the Córdoba Train Station stands out, attended by, among others, «a group of cigar makers, many of whom had been models for the painter for this work,» highlights Valme Muñoz.
The cigar makers even conducted a public fundraising to acquire the medal that had been denied to him. Official speeches, processions, and banquets were not lacking. In 1916, the painting was publicly exhibited for the enjoyment of all Sevillians, alongside several of its sketches, in the Chapter Hall of the Seville City Hall.
A year after his death, in 1939, the large painting was donated to the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, at the initiative of his widow, María Roy Lhardy. Gonzalo Bilbao was «closely linked to the Sevillian institutions, particularly the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, to which he dedicated many efforts throughout his life and of which he was president of its board,» values the director of the art gallery. Alongside many other works of various themes by the painter, the Sevillian museum also has the fortune of including in its permanent collection one of the eleven existing sketches of ‘Las Cigarreras’, acquired by the Andalusian Government in 1994.
To commemorate this connection between lyrics, literature, and painting, the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, in collaboration with the Teatro Maestranza in Seville, will carry out throughout this year a program of musical and artistic activities celebrating the 150th anniversary of Georges Bizet’s opera ‘Carmen’ and the mastery of Gonzalo Bilbao’s painting ‘Las Cigarreras’. Among them, several music-themed talks and tours of the opera’s settings are planned to begin, as it could not be otherwise, in front of the grand painting, an icon of the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville and of the entire city that houses it.