Jose Romano Gutierrez Solana - The Flagellants
- Title: The Flagellants (Los disciplinantes)
- Artist: Jose Romano Gutierrez Solana (1886-1945)
- Date: 1933
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 51 x 82 cm
- Location: Real Academia de Bellas artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
- Image source: Real Academia de Bellas artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain
- Seen: at Bozar in Brussels on 28 October 2025
When you stand in front of "Los disciplinantes", you get taken by the gloominess of the picture which represents penitents in a religious ritual, a reconstitution of Jesus' stations of the Cross. Everything in the picture is dark and brown ; the scene is heavy, suffocating.
A procession of hooded or faceless penitents is moving slowly and heavily across the canvas. In the foreground, half naked men, their backs crouched and their faces hidden, are going towards a crucified man, meant to respresent Jesus Christ. Many of these men are carrying heavy crosses. Some are kneeling. Behind them, more figures, their bodies wrapped in dark robes, their faces hidden under tall pointed hoods. All those penitents seem to be in physical pain and experiencing emotional suffering. On the left, a group of crying, pleading women, also in distress.
The colors are key to the mood. Solana uses a limited range of dark browns, blacks, muted reds and dirty whites. The backdrop of the walled city, dense and quiet, adds to the heaviness. These tones create an atmosphere of mystery and unease, as if the air were thick with incense and sweat. The light is harsh and uneven, catching a hood here, a hand there, leaving other areas in shadow. This contrast between light and dark isn’t just visual drama; it suggests the contrast between religious devotion and the darker, more primitive fears hidden beneath it.
José Gutiérrez Solana's style was heavily influenced by El Greco (1541–1614) and Francisco José de Goya (1746–1828).
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