The blue patio

The monastery of Món Sant Benet about forty minutes from Barcelona is worthwhile a visit. Apart from the church and the annexes like the wine cellar (those monks surely knew how to look after themselves), a very intriguing part is the summer residence of the Casas family.

The members of this family, among them the modernist visual artist Ramon Casas, bought the cloister after that it had known years of abandonment due to the ecclesiastical confiscation in 1835 when the monks were forced to leave their residence. At the beginnings of the 20th century the Casas family converted the religious building into their summer residence and gave it an art nouveau air.

This charming ‘Pati Blau’ (Blue Patio) has a medieval appearance with neogothic arcades and ditto fountain. You can see the rest of the tasteful dwellings when you take the tour A Day in the Life of Ramon Casas and learn all about what summer life was like for a famous Catalan artist in 1924, what the most popular fashions in habits and furniture were among the Catalan bourgeoisie a hundred years ago and what Sant Benet offered a figure like Ramon Casas.

In those days the monastery ‘was an evocative place inspired by the style of the time: Catalan art nouveau. They brought furniture from all over the place, they amassed an impressive collection of decorative art and they made the building a romantic place, with gardens full of aromas… Music, light, images… will guide us through the lounges and bedrooms for an evocative, sensitive experience’ (text copied from the website).

My contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: White & Blue.