At the end of the nineteenth century, between the regency of Christine von Habsburg and the first years of the reign of Alfonso XIII, Spain suffered economic, political and social difficulties that provoked a deep intellectual and artistic response. Particularly, painters sought to approach French and European symbolism from various contexts and aesthetics (Orientalism, regionalism, primitivism or aestheticism), basing on a reflection on the problem of Spanish identity at the turn of twentieth century. Thus, topics specifically related to folklore and Spanish traditions were common, among them cultural expressions such as flamenco and cuplé. Nevertheless, representations of singers, dancers, tablaos, cafés or musical parties in gardens and courtyards, mainly enhanced the exotic or Orientalist visions of Spain that European artists had projected. Musical instruments and practices are meaningful in this context, because they portray this aesthetic eclecticism and different values and identities. In this paper, I analyze a representative display of these issues through the works of Spanish symbolist artists. I take into account their literary, intellectual and philosophical environment, as well as their contacts with musical practices. Their paintings, engravings and posters reflect how it was precisely the idea of Spain’s own musical tradition that served painters to follow the European symbolist movements and to suggest the evasion of the social and political situation.
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