1888 was significant for Rusiñol's career because he had his first solo exhibition in the Parés Gallery, published articles in the newspaper La Vanguardia, exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon and participated in the Exhibition Universal of Barcelona. [27 During this time, he became interested in the real human figure, not the early years' literary. He began painting portraits, such as that of his friend Ramon Casas. In search of modernity, he wanted to capture the dignity of figures; the compositions are cleaner and give less importance to the secondary elements.