Tarragona

Tarragona, painted in 1902 and held at the National Museum in Warsaw, documents Ciągliński's visit to the ancient Roman city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia. Tarragona was known for its remarkable Roman and medieval heritage—amphitheatre, aqueduct, city walls—and for the quality of its Mediterranean light. For a painter who documented his travels systematically, Tarragona offered both architectural subject matter and the chromatic intensity of southern European sunlight. The painting belongs to the same period as his Finnish work, indicating an unusually wide-ranging travel practice during 1902.

Mediterranean light differs fundamentally from northern European conditions: higher contrast, harder shadows, and an overall brightness that compresses tonal range while intensifying colour. Ciągliński's handling of warm ochre stonework against deep shadows would reflect this, using chromatic contrast rather than tonal gradation.