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Vázquez Díaz was one of the great figures in the Spanish art scene during the first half of the 20th century, a fundamental reference for artists and intellectuals linked to the innovative movements of the 1920s and 1930s and an example of modernity for the official art world of the two following decades. From 1906 to 1918 Vázquez Díaz lived in Paris, where he began an intense career as a portraitist and an illustrator, worked with the sculptor Bourdelle and took his first steps in the field of mural painting. He was present at the birth and early progress of Cubism, for he was a friend of Juan Gris and got to know Picasso through Durrio, but he was especially interested in the Post-Impressionist painters, particularly Cézanne and Gauguin, and in the work of the Nabis. Vázquez Díaz's career developed slowly and his personal style, usually referred to as "tempered Cubism," "Neo-Cubism" or "geometric figurative painting," didn't begin to emerge until the early 1920s.

In The White Monks, on the other hand, he has turned to a more classical formal language, respectful of figurative tradition. The picture reveals his predilection for monumental and sculptural figures, obvious in the significant work he carried out as a portraitist during these years and, above all, in the mural paintings he executed at La Rábida Monastery in Huelva. The connection with Zurbarán's oeuvre is clear both in the choice of subject matter--- the representation of the refectory the moment the Carthusians bless the table, on which we see a still life---and in the importance granted to the description of the monks bright white habits. The distortions of traditional perspective and the silent withdrawal of the monks emphasise this connection. (Miriam Alzuri)

Selected bibliography

• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 162-163.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. pp. 162-163.
• Bengoechea, Javier de. Catálogo de arte moderno y contemporáneo del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, 1980. p. 123. (Con el título Los monjes blancos).
• Cat. Vázquez Díaz. Iruña-Pamplona, Caja de Ahorros de Navarra, 1997. p. 39
• Cat. Vázquez Díaz y el Bidasoa. Donostia-San Sebastián, Fundación Social y Cultural Kutxa = Kutxa Fundazio Sozial eta Kulturala, 1997. p. 203.
• Daniel Vázquez Díaz, 1882-1969 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid ; Bilbao, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía ; Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2004. p. 187.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 160-161.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 160-161.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 160-161.
• Valdivia Martín, Pablo. La vereda indecisa : el viaje hacia la literatura de Federico García Lorca. Granada, Diputación de Granada, 2009. pp. 303-304.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. pp. 162-163, n° cat. 114b.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. pp. 162-163, n° cat. 114b.
• Monacatus [Cat. exp.]. Valladolid, Fundación Las Edades del Hombre, 2012. pp. 348-349.
• Berruguete, Ana. Daniel Vázquez Díaz, entre tradición y vanguardia [Tesis doctoral]. Madrid, Universidad Complutense, 2015. pp. 321, 420, 443, 457, 484, 524, 575, 579.