With his unmistakable style, Ramon Calsina i Baró is one of the most enigmatic twentieth-century Catalan artists. His often-misunderstood painting is noteworthy for the attractiveness and suggestiveness of the themes, in a kind of magical realism set in the working class Poblenou neighbourhood where he grew up. He also explored drawing, illustrated El Quijote and works by Edgar Allan Poe, among others, and was awarded the Fundació Ynglada-Guillot Drawing Prize in 1964. His work lies outside any artistic currents, his relationship with the art market was always discreet, but with time he garnered greater recognition and, two years before he passed away, he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi by the Generalitat de Catalunya (1990).