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Unlike other basque painters from the same era, José Arrue never saw the local peasant world as characterised by traces of silent suffering, burdensome labour and resigned elderliness on the one hand, or epic toil, pious ways and serene physical beauty on the other. Neither dramatic nor heroic, José Arrue describes the everyday customs with humour, joy, playfulness and harmony.

As a founding element of the magazine El Coitao, and in line with this youthful, fleeting publication from 1908, José Arrue did not consider villagers to be the bearers of patriotic essences nor the stewards of immutable ethnic value, serious and solemn holdovers of a world undergoing extinction. Not in the least. Arrúe exalted the joyfulness of peasant life without any kind of idealism, and yet with a huge dose of humanity. Dances, pilgrimages, groups of friends singing, drinking, laughing, living the fugitive moment fully and somewhat un-self-consciously, with scenes in which the villain even gets his just desserts before the group's merrymaking, and anyone who unwittingly goes too far (drinking, for example) sparks not pity but affectionate hilarity. His villagers seem a bit simple, but they are capable of embarrassing the high-handed little city gent with concealed gestures that harbour the wisdom of centuries and the cautious savoir être.

Village joy, which is always collective and never individual, is expressed in this Basque Pilgrimage Festival. The entire community, gathered in meadows near the village, is dancing, playing, eating, drinking and chatting. The inhabitants of the farmhouses scattered about the hills have come down for the social rite of the festival. The scene is framed by four slender, vertical trees on either side. On the right, to the beat of a txistu and a tambourine, dancers are in a modest circle holding hands. On the left, numerous couples are dancing lively jotas played on the accordion and the tambourine. The local and foreign dances both fit into a rural world that is more tolerant than we usually imagine. Protected by the hermitage, whose belfry seems to rise up like an echo extended into the mountains located around it, daily life appears leisurely and peaceful.

The foreground is occupied by the village folk (full of nuances and diversity), the middle ground shows its organised structure (church, villages and farmhouses) and in the background we glimpse the outlines of the mountains and hills, a landscape filled with the slopes where life takes place like a succession of isolated moments and individuals who are dispersed yet happy to have encountered each other. It is the friendly landscape of a prosperous peasant society which barely inquires into its past and has hardly even imagined too many problems in its future. (Javier González de Durana)

Selected bibliography

• Bengoechea, Javier de. Catálogo de arte moderno y contemporáneo del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, 1980. p. 21.
• Sánchez-Lassa de los Santos, Ana. "Conservación y restauración en el Museo", Urtekaria 1983 : asterlanak, albistak = anuario 1983 : estudios, crónicas. 1984. pp. 11-30.
• Castañer López, Xesqui. "Iconografía de la mujer en los pintores vascos, siglos XIX y XX", Kobie : bellas artes, n° 2. 1984. p. 101.
• Pabellón español : exposición internacional de París, 1937 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, 1987. pp. 158-163, 183.
• 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. 37, 90-91, 111, n° cat. 42.
• Díaz Herrera, José. Los mitos del nacionalismo vasco : de la guerra civil a la secesión. Barcelona, Planeta, 2005. (Detalle en la cubierta)
• García de Cortázar, Fernando. Historia de España desde el Arte. Barcelona, Editorial Planeta, 2007. p. 472.
• Guía Artistas Vascos. Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2008. pp. 90-91.
• Gida Euskal Artistak. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Eder Museoa, 2008. pp. 90-91.
• Guide Basque Artists. Bilbao, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, 2012. pp. 90-91, n° cat. 43b.
• 110 Años 110 Obras [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 226-227, sin n° cat.
• 110 Ans 110 Oeuvres [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 226-227, sin n° cat.
• 110 Urte 110 Artelan [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 226-227, sin n° cat.
• 110 Years 110 Works [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 226-227, sin n° cat.
• Bilboko Museoaren alfabetoa = El alfabeto del Museo de Bilbao = The alphabet of the Bilbao Museum = L'alphabet du Musée de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2018. pp. 345-346, 349-351, 353, n° cat. 199.