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Along with his brothers Alberto, José and Ricardo, Ramiro Arrue was a professional artist. He mainly worked in painting, but he also delved into other techniques like enamelling, along with Ricardo, and designing posters, book covers and costumes for shows. As was common at the time, he moved to Paris in 1907 to learn about new developments in art. There he interacted with other artists from the Basque colony, including Zuloaga, Mogrobejo and especially Durrio, and he joined the free academy La Grande Chaumière.

After taking part in the 4th Modern Art Exhibition of Bilbao in 1910, he spearheaded the creation of the Association of Basque Artists in 1911. That same year he moved to the town of Ciboure in Lapurdi, although he never lost touch with his hometown as he remained actively involved in the Association. During the Civil War, he took refuge in the French Basque Country, where he continued to paint works with Basque themes until his death in 1971.

Basques Playing Cards is a good example of the second generation of what has been called "Basque Novecentism". The young Arrue had already assimilated the goals of creating a modern Basque art: drawing from the innovative forms of French modernity and classical painting to deal with the subject and formal aspects andrepresenting Basque themes to enrich the painting.

The influence of Gauguin is obvious, just as in many Basque painters of the day, perhaps through Durrio's mediation. In Basques Playing Cards, this is expressed in the large colour blotches that shape the space, along with the use of a short brushstroke which becomes a modulating organiser of the composition. It is interesting to note similar features in earlier paintings by Aurelio Arteta, especially in Peasant with a Cow and a Calf (c. 1913-1915), which indicates that Arteta's lessons had been imprinted on Arrue. However, the similarities between the two do not stop there; the geometricization of the shapes and the contrasts between lights and shadows which delimit plump volumes were points of convergence between these two painters in the subsequent years, in line with the trend in European painting.

This work clearly reveals the effort to integrate the two main currents in late-19th-century painting: the yearning for freedom and the expressive capacity of colour from Gauguin's Symbolism, and the lessons of Cézanne on the construction of volume and shape. However, Arrue offers a highly personal synthesis by introducing a Basque subject into a typology of neat paintings without an atmosphere of their own common to Pointillism, while the definition of the figures and space resembles frescoes from the early Renaissance. The clean geometry of the table reflects the shadows of the objects, making this painting resemble the metaphysical paintings that came shortly thereafter, an aspect that is reinforced by the monumental bodies of the two card players and their strictly symmetrical postures which occupy almost the entire space. (Ismael Manterola)

Selected bibliography

• III Congreso de Estudios Vascos : catálogo exposición de arte. Guernica, Excelentísima DIputación de Vizcaya, 1922. p. 3, n° cat. 12.
• Zuazagoitia, Joaquin. "Pintura Vasca", Zumárraga : revista de Estudios Vascos, n° 3. 1954. p. 138.
• Madariaga, Luis de. Pintores vascos. San Sebastián, Auñamendi, 1971. vol. I, p. 62.
• Goyeneche, E. "Necrologie Ramiro Arrue", Bulletin du Musée Basque, n° 54. 1971. pp. 210-216.
• Álvarez Emparanza, Juan María. Origen y evolución de la pintura vasca = Euskal pinturaren sorrera eta eboluzioa. Donostia-San Sebastián, Caja de Ahorros Provincial de Guipúzcoa, 1973. p. 156
• Pintores y escultores vascos de ayer, hoy y mañana. Bilbao, La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, vol. XI, 1975. p. 97.
• Bengoechea, Javier de. Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía del visitante. Bilbao, Caja de Ahorros Vizcaína, 1977. p. 34.
• Bengoechea, Javier de. Museo de Bellas Artes, Bilbao. Bilbao, La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1978. p. 335.
• Llano Gorostiza, Manuel. Pintura vasca. Bilbao, Editorial Neguri, 1980. p. 213.
• Bengoechea, Javier de. Catálogo de arte moderno y contemporáneo del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, 1980. p. 22. (Con el título Jugadores de cartas).
• Altuna, Jesús ... [et al.]. Arte Vasco. San Sebastián, Erein, 1982. p. 189.
• 50 ans d'art espagnol, 1880-1936 [Cat. exp.]. Bordeaux, Galerie de Beaux-Arts, 1984. p. 69, il.
• Mur Pastor, Pilar. La Asociación de Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao ; Caja de Ahoros Vizcaína, 1985. p. 96. (con el título Jugadores de cartas)
• Quesada, Luis. Figuras y escenas de interior en la pintura española : 1850-1950 [Cat. exp.]. Burgos, Museo Marceliano Santa María, 1987. p. 101.
• Arnáiz, Jose Manuel [dir.]. Cien años de pintura en España y Portugal, 1830-1930. Madrid, Antiquaria, 1988. p. 223.
• Nosotros los vascos : arte IV : del neoclasicismo a las tendencias modernas del arte. Donostia-San Sebastián, Lur, 1989. p. 220.
• Garmendia, José. Ramiro Arrue : le regard et le travail = La mirada y el trabajo. Bayonne, Galería Sialelli-Garmendia, 1989. p. 54.
• Larrínaga, José Antonio. Los cuatro Arrue : artistas vascos. Bilbao, [s. n.], 1990. p. 151.
• Bozal, Valeriano. Pintura y Escultura españolas del siglo XX, 1900-1939. Madrid, Editorial Espasa-Calpe, 1992. pp. 132-133
• Centro y periferia en la modernización de la pintura española, 1880-1918 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Minsterio de Cultura, 1993. pp. 417, 434, n° cat. 156.
• Plazaola, Juan. Euskal margolariak Aurrezki Kutxen bildumetan III = Pintores vascos en las colecciones de las Cajas de Ahorros III. Bilbao, Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa ; Gipuzkoa Donostia Kutxa ; Vital Kutxa, 1994. pp. 34, 38.
• Tradition and modernity in basque painting, 1880-1939 = Tradición y modernidad en la pintura vasca, 1880-1939 [Cat. exp.]. Southampton ; Bilbao, Southampton City Art Gallery ; Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 1997. pp. 94-95, 111, n° cat. 44.
• Zugaza, Miguel ... [et al.]. Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : maestros antiguos y modernos. Bilbao, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa = Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa Fundazioa, 1999. p. 200.
• Tradición y modernidad en la pintura vasca : en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Valencia, Autoridad Portuaria de Valencia, 1999. pp. 106-107.
• Zugaza, Miguel ... [et al.]. Maestros antiguos y modernos en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2001. p. 120.
• El Modernisme : aspectes generals. Barcelona, L'isard, 2003. p. 134.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 170.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 170.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. p. 170.
• Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. pp. 99-100.
• Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 99-100.
• Novecentismo y Vanguardia, 1910-1936 : en la colección del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2009. pp. 184-185, n° cat. 47.
• Jaureguiberry, Michel de. La peinture basque : oeuvres choisies des collections publiques et privées. Urrugne, Pimientos, 2009. p. 64.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. p. 154, n° 109.
• Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. p. 99, n° cat. 48a.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. p. 154, n° cat. 109.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 154.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 154.
• Ramiro Arrue : entre avant-garde et tradition [Cat. exp.]. Biarritz, Ville de Biarritz, 2017. p. 38-40, il.
• 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 224-225, sin n° cat.
• 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 224-225, sin n° cat.
• 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 224-225, sin n° cat.
• 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 224-225, sin n° cat.
• 50 años de pintura vasca, 1885-1935 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 1971. n° cat. 9.