Ramon Casas
Let's start this new year with the poster Pèl & Ploma (Hair & Feather), by the celebrated painter, draftsman, and Modernist poster artist Ramon Casas!
The languid, carefree young woman who stars in the poster has become one of the most iconic and popular figures in Casas’s work. The success of this image lies in the model’s relaxed, indolent pose—a brilliant compositional choice that Casas reused in several closely related works. The artist designed this poster as an advertisement for Pèl & Ploma, the artistic and literary magazine he and his close friend Miquel Utrillo created and published between 1899 and 1903. The title reflects their collaboration: Casas provided the drawings (“the hair,” as in a paintbrush) and Utrillo the text (“the feather,” as in a quill or pen).
At the center of the poster, a refined young bourgeois woman lounges comfortably on a sofa, her head nestled in cushions, dressed and styled elegantly. She calmly studies the pages she holds in her right hand—almost blank, but clearly meant to represent Pèl & Ploma, which she reads leisurely in the comfort of her home. Her relaxed position suggests intimacy and privacy, a moment of quiet reading when no visitors are present. Her right arm is raised, holding the magazine, while her left hangs loosely over the side of the sofa, holding a paintbrush and a pen—a direct visual reference to the title Pèl & Ploma. The title of the magazine appears in the upper-left corner, while the lower-right provides information about price and frequency, emphasizing that the illustrations are by Casas himself. The girl is like a symbol of cultured leisure—a serene, stylish reader of the magazine.
The poster was given as a gift to Pèl & Ploma subscribers and became an instant success, quickly selling out. In the magazine, Utrillo described the young woman as a modern Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, whose weapons are “the brush of art and the pen of reason. […] From the past, the most beautiful thing that remains to her is her helmet, formed by her hair, crowned with a graceful crest.” This literary reference underscores the shift in tone between the melancholy of the painting and the intellectual elegance of the poster.
Have an amazing 2026, full of joy, health, and love! Have a restful day today, especially if you partied hard last night. :)
- DailyArt Team
P.S. If you're looking for something new to learn this year, I highly encourage you to enroll in our How to Look at Art online course. It's short and, most notably, absolutely free! :)
P.P.S. Discover the Catalan art of Ramon Casas!