Barrio de Santana XVII, Mijas

1973, pen and ink drawing, 25.5 x 21 cm
Coll. Gaston Bertrand Foundation

Gaston Bertrand was fascinated by the picturesque streets of Mijas, a small Andalusian city that he visited during the winter of 1973 and where he drew a series of twenty ink sketches. The streets or the stairs, leading to the sky, are placed at the centre of the drawings. On the edges, the artist represented the walls of small houses with their barred windows and corrugated roof tiles which are the main decorative elements of the series. As usual, Bertrand erased all human presence and even some essential architectonic structures as well as some picturesque elements.