The City, Ronda, Spain

After visiting Toledo in 1929, Bomberg returned to Spain with his family at the end of 1934, settling in Ronda in Andalucia until the following June. During this period Bomberg's daughter Diana was born, and the family lived an austere existence. This, together with the drama of the city's setting, seemed to inspire a very productive period during which Bomberg worked quickly and vigorously, resulting in a series of bold landscapes. As with Bomberg's painted surfaces, his layered and rich use of charcoal lends a physicality and intensity that can be seen in the present composition. The rooftops of Ronda unfold in front of the Andalucian mountains in this scene that echoes an oil of the same date, Evening, The Old City and Cathedral, Ronda (please see lot 28 in the Modern British & Irish Art Evening Sale, Christie's, London, 23 November 2016).