The initiative to exhibit one of Ramon Martí Alsina’s emblematic works was an initiative of the MNAC, which had it on deposit in its warehouses, in a collaborative project with the Girona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and Caixa de Girona, which took care of the restoration costs. The reasons were several: firstly, to do justice to the great painter of Realism in Catalonia and to what, according to him, was his great work. Secondly, the theme is important, coinciding with the events of September 19, 1809, in the midst of the French War and a key moment in the siege that Girona suffered from the Napoleonic troops. Thirdly and finally, the aim was to generate a new, large exhibition space, completely renovated and located in an institutional building such as the old chapel of the Hospital de Santa Caterina, today the Josep Irla Auditorium.
Apart from his involvement in Catalan Realism, Martí Alsina was seduced by the French perspective of historical, patriotic and warlike romanticism of Delacroix, Géricault and above all Horace Vernet. This vital romanticism and the theme of the painting did not hide the influences already acquired in the treatment of figures, typical of French Realism, which Alsina met first-hand at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. It seems that ten years later, around 1865, he was already working on “El Gran dia de Girona”, a work with which the author wanted to provoke a turn in his career: to create a large work of spectacular dimensions (to date, no other Catalan painter has exceeded the dimensions of the painting, 5.40 x 11.90m) and to treat the exaltation of patriotic heroism.
To create the work, he needed several sketches and preparatory studies, such as “The Company of Santa Bàrbara”, “The Sometent of the Heather” or the sketch preserved in the collections of the Museum of Art. They all describe the same events that occurred on September 19, 1809, when the people of Girona, led by General Álvarez de Castro, faced the invader. The painting highlights the protagonists of heroism, but also the exhaustion, misery and despair of the combatants, fighting among corpses and the dying.
Over time, the large dimensions of the canvas, the consequent economic expense, the unfavorable opinion of critics who had observed the creative process, and the growing disinterest in historical painting, meant that Martí Alsina did not work on it intensely enough, and that in the end, he himself considered it an unfinished work. Later analysts saw in “The Great Day of Girona” the reflection of the painter’s arrogant character and his obsession with merging the most realistic and romantic features in a colossal painting, while searching for a personal style.
Link to Rescat magazine. Article about “The Great Day of Girona”
