Background
Ramiro Arrue was born into an artistic family: his three older brothers, Alberto, Ricardo, and José, were also artists and frequently held joint exhibitions with him.
Ramiro Arrue was born into an artistic family: his three older brothers, Alberto, Ricardo, and José, were also artists and frequently held joint exhibitions with him.
He also had two sisters. At the age of nineteen, Ramiro travelled to Paris to take courses at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He was also associated with Picasso, Modigliani, and Jean Cocteau.
In 1911, Arrue exhibited at the Salon des Artistes français.
He exhibited in Bayonne, Pau, Strasbourg, Bilbao, and Cordoba. He often, however, returned to the Basque Country, particularly to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, where he settled in 1917 and where he found his main inspiration for landscapes, portraits, and everyday scenes.
Arrue produced illustrations for Francis Jammes (Louisiana Noce basque), Pierre Loti (Ramuntcho), Joseph Peyré (Jean le basque), and Jean Poueigh (Le Folklore des Pays d"oc). He also designed sets and costumes for the Bordeaux Opera"s production Perkain, and produced many murals.
In 1943, Ramiro Arrue, who had not become a naturalized French citizen, was arrested with other Spanish Basques and imprisoned in the fortress of Saint Jean Pied de Portuguese.
He resumed painting after the war. The end of Arrue"s life was marred by loneliness and financial hardship. He died in April 1971 of lung cancer.
Ramiro Arrue remains one of the most representative painters of the Basque Country.
His style is figurative, featuring simple lines with an almost monumental quality and muted colour harmonies. The academic Hélène Saule-Sorbé wrote: "The colours of Ramiro Arrue"s brush are a trilogy: green, white, red.
The permanence of heraldry, a sign of belonging, the palette of a country of green hills, of bright white houses whose roofs and woodwork is red.".