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Hours of distress

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• Hours of distress

Horas de Angustia, (Hours of Distress) is a painting with social content. The 19th century ended with a great crisis in the country due to the disaster of 1898 and the loss of the last surviving Spanish colonies in America and Asia. The social injustice in Spain produced a reaction of the most affected social classes and in the artist and intellectual groups. Their members used his pens and brushes to depict the problems with a conception of art as social condemnation.
The human misery and its contrasts were quickly painted by the young artist. Julio Romero de Torres carried out this painting following the rules of social painting. The scene shows the pain of young mother close to the humble bed of her sick son, who lies in the boundaries between life and death. This is a work of bright colors and impressionist strokes, the light coming from the lantern illuminates the bed of the sick boy, while the figure of the young lady remains in the shadows, accenting the feeling sadness. She is sitting with her hands on her face waiting for the sad outcome.