Procession in Spain

Robert Henri visited Spain in the summer of 1906, accompanied by a group of his students from the New York School of Art. Their ship docked at Gibraltar and they quickly visited Seville, Granada and Cordoba before settling into the Pension Carmona in Madrid. Henri secured two studios, one for the students and another for himself, where gypsies, dancers and bullfighters came to pose for him. From Madrid, Henri and his students visited Toledo, Segovia and the Escorial. He painted a group of pochades of Segovia and the Segovian plateau, exploring the striking light and color contrasts of that distinctive landscape. Procession in Spain may have been inspired by, if not actually painted after, one or more of these small oil sketches. According to the artist's record book, the present work was listed as E55--Spanish Landscape with Figures and was completed in Madrid in September 1906.