National Art Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
The National Art Museum of Catalonia, also known by its acronym MNAC, is a museum of art in the city of Barcelona which brings together all the arts whose mission is to preserve and exhibit the collection of Catalan art ‘s most important world, showing everything from Romanesque to the present.
The MNAC is a consortium with its own legal personality constituted by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council and the General State Administration. In addition to the public administrations, individuals and private entities collaborating with the administration are represented on the museum’s board of trustees.
The main headquarters are located in the National Palace of Montjuïc, opened in 1929 on the occasion of the International Exhibition. Three other institutions are also part of the museum as a whole: the Víctor Balaguer Museum Library in Vilanova i la Geltrú, the Garrotxa Museum in Olot and the Cau Ferrat Museum in Sitges, whose management is independent and its ownership is based on the respective councils.
Building
The projects for urbanizing the Montjuïc coast as a lung and recreational space in Barcelona date from the early 20th century. The decisive factor in this direction was the fact that the mountain was chosen as the setting for the great International Exhibition of Barcelona in 1929: the direction of the urban and architectural part of the project was entrusted to the prestigious modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and the gardens, in Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier and Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí. The National Palace was conceived within this planning as the central palace of the exhibition and in 1924 a competition was convened for its realization – once separated from the project, Puig i Cadafalch with the arrival of the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923) – won by architects Eugenio P. Cendoya, Enric Catà and Pere Domènech i Roura. It was designed as a magna exhibition – The Art in Spain – with over 5,000 pieces and reproductions representing the history of Spanish art that had two extensions, the architectural ensemble of the Poble Espanyol, still active, and the Palace of Modern Art, which was demolished.
The building of the National Palace of Montjuïc is the work of Eugenio Cendoya and Enric Catà, under the supervision of Pere Domènech i Roura, rejecting an initial project of Puig i Cadafalch and Guillem Busquets. It has a symmetrical main facade, with a projecting central body and two lateral ones; the central body is crowned by a Roman-style dome, dominating the entire facade, and is accompanied by two smaller domes on the sides. The four corners of the Great Hall are made up of square towers that integrate the composition of the exterior façade.
The work has a surface of 32,000 m² and is of classicist style, inspired by the Spanish Renaissance. It has a rectangular floor plan with two lateral bodies and a later square one, with a large elliptical dome in the center. The waterfalls and springs of the Palau steps are designed by Carles Buïgas. At the same time, nine large projectors were placed that still emit intense beams of light today, writing the name of the city in the sky.
In its Oval Hall the opening ceremony of the exhibition El Arte en España, chaired by Alfonso XIII and queen Victoria Eugènia, took place.
In the decoration of the Palau – in the nineteenth-century style (contrary to the classicism of the structure) – several artists took part, such as the sculptors Enric Casanovas, Josep Dunyach, Frederic Marès and Josep Llimona, and the painters Francesc d’Assís Galí, Josep de Togores, Manuel Humbert, Josep Obiols, Joan Colom and Francesc Labarta. Since 1934 it has been the headquarters of the MNAC.
In 1985, the first refurbishment projects began to be debated, but it was not until 1990 that restitution began, according to the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegman. In 1992, the Oval Room was refurbished and the partial structural adaptation and adaptation of the building was completed, as well as the restructuring of two temporary exhibition halls.
Between 1995 and 2004, the palace underwent various reforms and extensions by Gae Aulenti, Enric Steegman, Josep Benedito Rovira and Agustí Obiol, with the aim of creating spaces to accommodate all the works in the collection. The works were entrusted to Eduard Carbonell, the director of the museum at the time.
The area of the Palau that needed a more complex reform was the wing where the Romanesque art is exposed. The first floor had to be dismantled, the dome strengthened and new walls and panels built, as well as all the security facilities changed. In order to guarantee favorable conservation conditions (humidity, heat,…) in February 1995 the collection of Romanesque apses had to be moved under the supervision of Aulenti. The aim of the architectural reform was to “bring together the past and present, preserve the philosophical and moral needs of the building”, especially interested in the subject of lighting. That is why lamps were placed on the floor, focusing the apse, leaving some of the darker rooms to reproduce the atmosphere of the Romanesque churches. Many restorations were made by Gianluigi Colalucci and his team, restaurateurs also the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
Collections
Through its collections, the museum seeks to give a global discourse on Catalan art from the eleventh century to the present. In some cases, such as the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque collections, this discourse is also made by comparison with works of art from other sources.
The collection is divided into the following concepts: Romanesque, Gothic art of the Renaissance and Baroque, modern art, drawing, engraving and posters, photography and numismatics. The collection also has the Art History Library and the General Archive.
The collection of the museum has been formed over the years, with the aim of recovering and representing the bulk of Catalan artistic heritage, through purchases from private collections (Casellas in 1911, Alexandre de Riquer in 1921, Plandiura 1932 and Muntadas in 1956) and donations (Enric Batllo (1914) Legacy Cambo, Legacy Espona (1958), Legacy Dominic Teixido, Legacy Bertran (1970), Legacy Fontana (1976), Girbau SA…).
As for the permanent exhibition, it is divided into the following sections: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, Cambó Legacy, Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Modern Art, Drawings, Prints and Posters, photography and numismatics. The proposed journey to better understand and understand how collections are presented begins with the room near the lobby, home to the oldest Romanesque paintings, wall paintings and other forms of painting (basically about wood), sculpture and the decorative arts. This presentation surrounds the Great Hall and caters to a chronological perspective – once the Romanesque art collection is visited – through gothic works, then through another area where you can clearly see the transition from Gothic to Renaissance and finally a third exhibits the Baroque works. The circuit continues on the first floor, where 19th- century artworks are located, and advances to 20th- century art.
During 2009 a process of digitizing the collection began, in order to be able to offer virtual tours of the museum’s collection. On March 12 of 2010 became public the creation of the portal from where you can see the first 1,900 digitized works and some gigafoto of the most important works, such as The Vicar of Fortuny or Pantocrator of San Clemente Tables.
Romanesque (11th – 13th centuries)
The Romanesque Art Collection is one of the most important and emblematic of the Museum for its exceptional series of wall painting sets. In fact, its uniqueness is unparalleled in any other museum in the world. Many of these paintings, from small rural churches in the Pyrenees and other parts of Old Catalonia, were known and valued from the early years of the 20th century, especially after the Pyrenean expedition (1907) of a mission of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, which later published Les paintings murals catalanes. Years later it was discovered that a group of foreign financiers and antique dealers had bought most of the paintings in bulk in the United States. Although at that time there were no laws in Spain banning the expatriation of works of art, the Board of Museums carried out an efficient rescue, uprooting and transfer operation to the Barcelona Museum (1919-1923), then at the Ciutadella Park, to protect this Romanesque heritage, an art of total uniqueness that has been seen as a symbol of the birth and formation of Catalonia.
The route of the Romanesque art rooms is basically chronological and stylistic, and shows the different artistic tendencies of Romanesque art in Catalonia, with works that basically belong to the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The itinerary begins with the mural paintings of Sant Joan de Boí, close to the Franco-Carolingian tradition, and continues with the sets of Italian influence that have dominated the pictorial scene since the end of the eleventh century, connected no doubt with the momentum of Gregorian reform, with examples such as the wall paintings of Sant Quirze de Pedret, Santa Maria d’Àneu or Sant Pere del Burgal.
One of the masterpieces in the collection is the paintings of the apse of Sant Climent de Taüll, with the famous Pantocrator or Christ in Majesty, the undisputed 12th-century masterpiece, and a tangible test of the creative power of Catalan painting.. Next to it is the whole of Santa Maria de Taüll, the most important example of a fully painted Romanesque church interior, which has preserved much of this decoration.
The end of the tour focuses on the paintings of San Pedro de Arlanza and those of the chapter house of Sixena. Regarding the latter, this is one of the most magnificent paintings in the renewal style of 1200 in Europe and is preserved in the Museum after the severe fire that suffered in 1936, during the Civil War.
The tour also shows other techniques that distinguish Catalan art, such as painting on wood or wood sculpture, and others that complement the aesthetic vision of Romanesque art, such as goldsmithing or sculpture in stone.
The collection of painting on the table, unique in Europe, is also a unique section of Romanesque painting, both in terms of the quantity and antiquity of Catalan works that are preserved – also the result of Roman interest in Romanesque art from the end of the nineteenth century – as for the quality and technical diversity they show. Frontiers such as the so-called Apostles or La Seu d’Urgell, those of Alós d’Isil, of Avià or Cardet can be considered paradigms of an original pictorial technique and of great artistic interest. On the other hand, the collection of wood sculpture offers a comprehensive and comprehensive view of the Romanesque, with outstanding works in various types such as the Virgin of Ger, theMajesty Batlló or the carvings of the Descent of Erill la Vall.
It is worth mentioning also the examples of stone sculpture, among which some pieces of Ripoll and a large group of works from the whole of the city of Barcelona, with the refined marble capitals of the old hospital. St. Nicholas. Finally, the collection has a significant sample of enamels, mostly produced in Limoges, such as the Mondoñedo Stack.
Between December 2010 and June 2011, the rooms in the Romanesque collection were closed due to the maintenance and renovation of the museum’s discourse. During this time the lighting, the conditions of preventive conservation, as well as the more worn parts of the pavement were improved. They were reopened on June 29, 2011, in an act presented by Narcís Serra.
Gothic (late 13th – 15th centuries)
The collection of Gothic art includes works from the end of century XIII until well into the century xv. The origin of the works is mostly from the Catalan territory, although to a lesser extent, works from the territory of the old Crown of Aragon, such as Aragon, Mallorca and Valencia, are shown, showing the historical moment of maximum Catalan territorial influence. The most representative authors of this period are Pere Serra, Lluís Borrassà, Jaume Huguet, Bernat Martorell and Bartolomé Bermejo, others. In terms of style, one can find works that show the emergence, development and completion of style, as well as works from different European styles, such as international Gothic, linear expression, ‘ Italian descent and that of Flemish descent.
Quantitatively, the set of pictorial altarpieces, paintings in egg tempera and the oil, along with a sample of the mural painting, the goldsmithing, the sculpture and the enamel of the time emphasizes. All works displayed were restored before reopening of the collection in the summer of 1997.
The origins of the formation of the MNAC Gothic art collection date back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the movement for the recovery and conservation of the Catalan heritage complex began, which was badly damaged by the burning of convents from 1835 to Spain in the context of the First Carlist War, which led to the confiscation of Mendizábal. Small movements and institutional initiatives such as the collection, in the convent of San Juan, of archaeological specimens from the destroyed convents, promoted in 1837 by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Seven years later, the convent would become the first historical museum in Barcelona. Among the items collected were a total of 24 Gothic tombstones. The creation in 1867 of the Provincial Museum of Antiquities, directed by Antoni Elias de Molins and located in the chapel of Santa Ágata, incorporated the funds of the Academy of Good Letters.
With the advent of the Renaissance cultural movement, the phenomenon of private collecting began to be widespread in Catalonia. One of the most prominent was the collection of art critic Francesc Miquel i Badia, owner of Sant Jordi and the Princess.
In the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Barcelona, created in 1891 and located in the Palace of Fine Arts, the Gothic background was still a squad, despite having outstanding works such as the four portraits with the images of the kings of Aragon, by Gonçal Peris Sarrià and Jaume Mateu, donation of Pau Milà i Fontanals to his death in 1883, or two tables originally from the monastery of Vallbona de les Monges and objects of the object such as the urn of Sant Cándid, a piece from the monastery of Sant Cugat. del Vallès, or the well-known Virgin of the Councilors of Lluís Dalmauoccupying a prominent place. The constitution of the Municipal Board of Museums and Fine Arts marked a change of direction in the museum policy, very sensitive to the increase of the collections of gothic art. Highlight the notorious activity of Joaquim Folch i Torres as the Commissioner of the Board of Museums in this drive.
For the inauguration of the new Museum of Art and Archeology, in 1915, located on the side wings of the Ciutadella arsenal, now the seat of the Parliament, there were already the prominent tables of the altarpiece of Sant Vicenç de Sarrià by Jaume Huguet, one of the sides of the so-called Cardona altarpiece, a work related to the Master of Baltimore acquired in 1906 by Celestí Dupont, or the tables of the Sant Joan Baptista altarpiece by Pere Garcia de Benavarri, purchased from the Marquès i Català family. In the field of sculpture, Josep Pascó had bought sixty pieces of alabaster and stone sculptures from Poblet andSalvador Babra, sculptural images from Gerb.
It would be just before 1920 when the acquisition of ecclesiastical-owned property intensified. In 1919 the Sant Antoni Abat was acquired, attributed to Jaume Cascalls to the rector of the village of La Figuera; most of the tables in the altarpiece of Sant Esteve de Granollers from the workshop of the Vergós and Joan Gascó; the altarpiece of the Virgin of Sigena by Jaume Serra; or the thighs of the organ of the Cathedral of La Seu d’Urgell. In the 1920’s key pieces were included in the museum, such as the table of Sant Jordi and the princess and the altarpiece of Sant Agustí, from the brotherhood of the whitewashers of Jaume Huguet.
With the inauguration, in 1934, of the Art Museum of Catalonia at the Palau Nacional, one of the most significant stages in the history of the formation of the Gothic art collection was completed. Of the total of 1,869 works, in the Gothic section, there was a group of more than forty gothic tables and a significant number of sculptures and architectural fragments from the Provincial Museum of Antiquities of Barcelona, whose fund was finally incorporated to the museums of the Board, between 1932 and 1933.
But the most significant growth of the period comes from the acquisition for 7 million pesetas of the collection of 1,869 works Lluís Plandiura i Pou in 1932, which had to sell it due to economic problems. Of the gothic pieces the Marededéu of Sallent de Sanaüja stands out; the three fragments of the Tortosa altarpiece, by Pere Serra; the altarpiece of the Saints John of Santa Coloma de Queralt; the altarpiece of Sant Esteve, by Jaume Serra; paintings from Estopanyà; the series of eight funeral tables from the tomb of San Andrés de Mahamud (Burgos) and thetombstone of Margarita Cadell.
There were no major additions again until 1949 with the legacy of Francesc Cambó, mostly with Renaissance and Baroque works, which contributed the tables of the Master of Madonna Cini and the gilded silver chalice with the shield of Queen Mary. de Luna, wife of King Martí l’Humà, one of the best international gothic jewelry productions preserved by the MNAC.
With the incorporation, in 1950, of some works in the Muñoz collection – the former Bosch i Catarine collection – the altarpiece of Santa Barbara by Gonçal Peris Sarrià was introduced, an outstanding example of Valencian international Gothic. The same collection belonged to the scene of the Crucifixion of Sant Andreu, by Lluís Borrassà, and the Table by Sant Miquel Soriguerola.
In 1950, the legacy of Apel•les Mestres enriched the content of the Gothic section with two magnificent mercies, belonging to the choir of the choir of the cathedral of Barcelona, by Pere Sanglada. The same year, the sarcophagi, originally from the monastery of Santa María de Matallana (Valladolid), were acquired and constitute a singular manifestation of peninsular funeral sculpture.
A significant new entry was the acquisition in 1956 of the collection collected since the end of the last century by the count of Santa Maria de Sants, Maties Muntadas (1854-1927), which saw a significant increase in art collections Gothic, especially painting. It is necessary to emphasize works of the Master of Retascón, the Master of the Porciúncula, Fernando Gallego, Bernat Despuig or Ramon Solà II, as well as others already in the collection of the museum like the painters Jaume Huguet, Bernat Martorell or Pere Garcia de Benavarri. Noteworthy in the Muntades collection is the collection of Flemish paintings, which is a significant contribution to the art made in Flanders during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The acquisition in the 1960’s of various murals and coffered items from various palaces in Montcada Street in Barcelona contributed to a barely represented set of profane character in the collection, in which religious themes predominated.
In 1970 the Bertrand legacy was incorporated, which enriched the area of medieval wood sculpture. In 1976 there was a donation, by Mrs. Pilar Rabal, widow of Pere Fontana, from the collection collected by her husband, thirteen tables that expanded the collection within the current of Catalan international Gothic, with names that are representative enough like those of Guerau Gener, Jaume Ferrer II or Pere Teixidor.
Of particular importance is the deposit of the Generalitat de Catalunya, in 1993, of three sergeants from the Cathedral of La Seu d’Urgell; an income that complements the whole acquired in the first decade of the century. Also, the donation of the Torelló collection of 1994 involved the incorporation of a painting by Jacomart. A year later, the donation of the Torres collection signified the entrance of the Martyrdom of Saint Lucy by Bernat Martorell.
Renaissance and Baroque (15th – 18th centuries)
The Renaissance and Baroque Art Collection is a valuable heritage that – unlike the great national museums in Europe, which came from the great royal and nobility collections – in Catalonia was formed from the recovery of the local heritage and the subsequent donations and acquisitions of private collections. The plot of the beginning and end of the museographic discourse focuses on two historical moments in Catalan art – the diffusion, in the first half of the 16th century, in the Renaissance way, and the painting in the 18th century, with the figure of Antoni Viladomat -, beside Hispanic, Flemish and Italian works of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The itinerary begins in the sixteenth-century Netherlands, where religious fervor and detail of daily life are mixed, as can be seen from a set of quality leaflets and leaflets for private use. At the beginning of the Renaissance period, in Catalonia flamenco gothic forms coexisted with other new solutions, represented by works such as the Holy Candle of Ayne Bru or the Sant Blai of Pere Fernández, which carry the humanist sentiment. and the stamp of the leading art made in Italy. The Altarpiece of Sant Eloi dels argenters, by Pere Nunyes, maintains the tone of the new language, the same as that used by the sculptor Damià Forment for the group of the Dormition of the Virgin. Towards the end of the century, Hispanic painting has works of great beauty, such as Christ with the Cross and Saint Peter and Saint Paul, by El Greco, in which the modernity of color is present, the fruit of the lessons learned in Venice. At the same time, Luis de Morales ‘ Ecce homo conveys the devotional sentiment of the Counter – Reformation.
The 17th century begins with the frescoes of the Capella Herrera, by Annibale Carracci and collaborators, who decorated the Roman church of Sant Jaume dels Espanyols, and continues with paintings by other Italian artists such as the Genoese Gioacchino Assereto or the Neapolitan. Massimo Stanzione and Andrea Vaccaro. But, above all, the works of the masters of the Spanish Golden Age, such as the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, the Valencian Josep de Ribera, said “Lo Spagnoletto”, the Sant Pau, by Diego Velázquez, or the Immaculate Conception, stand outand several still lifes of Francisco de Zurbarán. Returning to Catalonia, the image of Sant Gaietà, by the sculptor Andreu Sala, echoes the great art of Bernini.
Coming to the 18th century, the set dedicated to the Life of Saint Francis, by Antoni Viladomat, which decorated the cloister of the convent of Framenors in Barcelona, is the only series of monastic life preserved entirely in a museum. On the other hand, the daring work of Francesc Pla, called “the Vigatà”, represents the pictorial freedom in the decoration of interiors of the houses of the new wealthy commercial and industrial class, precursor of the art that had to develop in the nineteenth century.
This collection, reflecting the taste of part of our civil society for Renaissance and Baroque art, houses, exceptionally in comparison with the rest of the MNAC, the art produced in Catalonia and also in Spain, as well as in Italy and Flanders, which gives an overview of the evolution of European art at the time, which is contributed by two important later contributions, the Cambó Legacy and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.
Cambó legacy
The Cambó Legacy is a collection of works from the particular collection of the Catalan politician and patron Francesc Cambó, of significant importance, as he integrates European painting from the fourteenth century to the early nineteenth. It is the most selfless contribution of the highest value that the MNAC has received throughout its history and which has enriched the Renaissance and Baroque collections more. Artistic movements are represented as diverse as the Italian Quattrocento and the masters of the Cinquecento, such as Sebastiano del Piombo or Titian, passing through the Spanish painting of the Golden Age to the rococo.
It is a repertoire with its own identity that embraces the history of European painting from the fourteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth century. These are works that mark the transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance, which speak of the perfection of the Italian Quattrocento, the sensuality of the great Venetian masters of the Cinquecento, the economic boom of the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, without forgetting the greatness of the Century Spanish gold, until reaching the fullness of the European rococo. Out of the artists represented at the MNAC thanks to this magnificent collection, names of universal relevance stand out, such as Sebastiano del Piombo, Tiziano Vecellio and Giandomenico Tiepolo, great painters, all from Italy; Peter Paulus Rubens and Lucas Cranach, exponents of Flemish school art; Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Maurice Quentin de la Tour, who represent the French Rococo, and finally Francisco de Goya, the renewing genius who closes the chronological arc that embraces the Cambodian Legacy.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
When the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection was installed in Madrid, at the Villahermosa Palace, the State formalized its purchase in 1993, a part of this collection –72 paintings and 8 sculptures, mainly thematically. Although it also includes landscape and portrait, it is destined for Barcelona. In 1993, the permanent exhibition of these works was inaugurated in one of the wings of the Monastery of Pedralbes, enabled for this museum function by the City Council. In 2004, the Foundation signed an agreement with the MNAC, an agreement through which the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Barcelona was permanently exhibited at the MNAC, with the aim of strengthening the contents of the Catalan museum and making it more widely available of the works. This collection brings together a set of paintings and sculptures that presents an overview of European art from Gothic to Rococo. Among the works that are part of this collection are the tables by Rimini and Tadeo Gaddi, artists of the Trecento; and the works of Francesco del Cossa as a magnificent example of the Quattrocento. Del Cinquecento has works byFray Angelico, Rubens, Battista Dossi or Ticià, and of the Settecento stand out works by Tiepolo, key artist of the Italian Rococo, Ceruti or the canaletto canaletto.
Modern Art (19th – 20th centuries)
The MNAC ‘s Modern Art Collection was created from the Universal Exhibition of 1888, at which time the Barcelona City Council installed the then small collection of modern art, at that contemporary time, in the Palace of Fine Arts. The collection was significantly expanded with the acquisitions made by the City Council itself at the fine arts exhibitions. The current modern art collection brings together a best of Catalan art from the beginning of the century XIX until the 40 of century XX. The journey begins with the artists who followed the postulates of neoclassicism, romanticism and realism. The neoclassics include the painter Josep Bernat Flaugier and the sculptor Damià Campeny. As for the romance, include painters Nazarenes, like Claudius Lorenzale, who worked especially portrait and Louis Rigalt that opens the Catalan tradition of landscape; this will continue, in the age of realism, with Ramon Martí Alsina, who introduced the ideas of Courbet in Catalonia, and with Joaquim Vayreda, founder of the Olot School, among others. A separate chapter deserves Marià Fortuny, the best nineteenth-century Catalan painter, who triumphed internationally with genre painting, and wrote advanced approaches in his latest productions.
Also present are painters who opted for anecdotal realism, such as Romà Ribera and Francesc Masriera, as well as the “luministas” of the Sitges School, heirs to the Fortunian tradition; while in sculpture the Vallmitjana brothers stand out as the best representatives of the realist tradition. The 19th century collection also includes a sample of historical photography with works by AADisdéri, Jean Laurent, Le Jeune and Charles Clifford., among others, with images from various places in Spain.
One of the backbones of modern art collections is Modernism, a movement of great artistic and cultural importance in Catalonia. In painting, the current that is most identified with it is the renewal character led by Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol, who in their Parisian works incorporated certain aspects of French impressionism. Another current is the symbolist, represented by the paintings of Alexandre de Riquer and Joan Brull, which can also be seen in some photographs of the pictorialist Pere Casas Abarca.. Equally important is the presence of second-generation Art Nouveau artists, such as Isidre Nonell, Marià Pidelaserra, Ricard Canals, Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Nicolau Raurich or Joaquim Mir, who, already in the 20th century, brought the painting Catalan to one of its brightest moments.
Also included are Spanish painters such as Julio Romero de Torres, Joaquim Sorolla, Ignacio Zuloaga, Darío de Regoyos and José Gutiérrez Solana, photographer Ortiz Echagüe and French artists Boudin, Sisley and Rodin. Regarding Modernist sculpture, it is worth highlighting the creations of Miquel Blay and Josep Llimona, with a clear influence of Rodin. The Modernist decorative art collection shows some exceptional sets of interior design by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Gaspar Homar and Antoni Gaudí, respectively, coming from the Amatller, León Morera and Batlló houses, on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona; as well as notable examples of the art of the object in forging, ceramics, glasswork and jewelry, not to mention the furniture sets by Joan Busquets and the architect Josep Maria Jujol.
The other movement widely represented at the MNAC is Noucentisme, which embodies the search for one’s own essence and Mediterranean. Representative are the classic compositions of Joaquim Torres-García and Joaquim Sunyer, with vague Cezannian influences, and the sculptural knots of Josep Clarà and Enric Casanovas. Sculptures by Manolo Hugué and paintings by Xavier Nogués complement this movement, with a marked popular accent. Towards 1920, a new generation of artists appeared who had to face the dilemma of following the figurative tradition or making the leap to the avant-garde.. Some of these, such as the painters Josep de Togores and Francesc Domingo i Segura, made their own production in the context of international interwar war realism. Others, such as Torres-García, Rafael Barradas or Salvador Dalí, found in the Dalmau Galleries the right place to exhibit their most innovative production.
Drawings, prints and posters
The MNAC’s Drawings and Prints Cabinet collections bring together about 50,000 drawings, about 70,000 prints and over 1,000 posters, belonging to the historical collection. The collections include a rich and plural display of the most important artistic trends and movements of Catalan art. However, this presence becomes more pronounced from the end of the eighteenth century, coinciding with the presence in Barcelona, since 1775, of the Free School of Design and Noble Arts, called the Llotja School, which became a benchmark in the consolidation of academicism in Catalonia. 19th Century we have a large representation of a group of artists linked to this school, among which are Josep Bernat Flaugier, Vicent Rodés, Claudi Lorenzale and Ramon Martí i Alsina, as well as some of the family lineages that, such as that of the Planella or the Rigalt, they make up the artistic stage that goes from neoclassicism to realism. We cannot forget the contribution of the leading Catalan Baroque painter, Antoni Viladomat, of whose age the Cabinet has a significant set of works. Recently, in 2003, Baroque Catalan artistic production has increased with the acquisition of a group of altar traces from theCésar Martinell, very unique and allows us to approach the study of Catalan altarpiece in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Undoubtedly, one of the main hallmarks of the collection is the important work of Marià Fortuny, of which there are kept more than 1,500 drawings and 50 engravings, which make this collection an obligatory reference to reconstruct the ‘creative itinerary by this 19th-century artist. Of this period more than 30 drawings by the painter of history Eduardo Rosales, acquired in 1912, that are related to the Testament of Isabel the Catholic and the Death of Lucretia, are two of his more paradigmatic historical compositions.
The Cabinet collections also have a rich representation of Modernist and Noucentista works. Specifically, the Cabinet collection includes more than 600 modernist posters by prominent Catalan and foreign artists, including those by Ramon Casas. Notable among this artist is the famous series of “Portraits on the Coal”, an authentic iconographic gallery of the personalities of the time in Catalonia, donated by the same author in 1909. Among the nineteenth-century authors, it is worth noting the remarkable collection of the work by Isidre Nonell, with more than 150 compositions.
It is worth mentioning also the collection of posters of that same period, which was largely acquired by the Museum in Lluís Plandiura in 1903. The more than 500 posters, including a notable presence of foreign authors, are a legacy of The invaluable heritage and exemplify, the posterism in Catalonia.
Finally, in spite of being an uneven bottom, it is necessary to refer to the representation of the avant-garde movements. In this sense, the sculptor Juli González is one of the best represented artists, thanks to the donation of more than 150 drawings made in 1972 by his daughter Roberta. On the contrary, the presence of two great creators of contemporary art, such as Dalí or Miró, is almost testimonial.
Regarding the formation of the collections of the Cabinet of Drawings and Prints, two important acquisitions of the Board of Museums are worth mentioning: the collection of the literary and artistic critic Raimon Casellas in 1911 and, ten years later, the collection of the artist modernist Alexandre de Riquer.
Photography
The photography collection has more than 6,000 copies. The earliest works are dated to the 19th century, but you can see works from different movements, such as pictorialism, new objectivity, photojournalism, to neo-realism and the contemporary period.
The collection has, despite some of its own acquisitions, been donated and deposited by collectors and the artists themselves (Colita, Joan Fontcuberta, Pere Formiguera, Carles Fontserè, Emili Godes, Josep Lladó, Oriol Maspons, Kim Manresa, Josep Masana, Otto Lloyd, Antoni Arissa, Josep Maria Casals and Ariet, Toni Bernad…)
Some of the works on display are in the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Art Collection repository, with works by Antoni Campañà, Pere Català Pic, Francesc Català Roca, Joan Colom, Manel Esclusa, Francesc Esteve and Soley, among others., and works also in the repository of the Photographic Group of Catalonia, with photos by Claudi Carbonell and Joan Porqueras, for example. In May 2012 the museum opened a monographic room with 24 works by Agustí Centelles and another with a selection of avant – garde photographers.Catalan photography until the Civil War.
Numismatics
The Numismatic Cabinet of Catalonia, created in 1932, has a collection of over 134,000 copies. The fund is the result of a long process of acquisition, donation, legacy or deposit, which began in the first half of the nineteenth century and still continues.
The coin collection consists of nearly 100,000 pieces, of which the main numismatic series are represented, with units manufactured from the 6th century BC onward. The most important and emblematic coins are, without a doubt, those issued in Catalonia, with a large number of copies of extraordinary rarity and unique pieces. The collections begin with the emissions of ancient times, among which are the minting in the Iberian Peninsula, with pieces as significant as those of the Greek colonies of Empúries and Rhode, or the treasure of 897 fractions of silver found. in Emporion’s Naples. From the transition from the ancient to the medieval world is the collection of Visigothic coins, with broadcasts from workshops in Catalonia,, Tarraco or Gerunda. Many of the Christian kingdoms of the medieval West are present in the European kingdoms, although the Catalan currency and the Crown of Aragon are the most prominent, with units showing, step by step, the evolution historical and economic of these territories. For example, the economic growth of the thirteenth century is documented by the beginning of the minting of silver crusaders in Barcelona in the name of Peter II. Emissions of modern and contemporary times include the minting of three periods as significant as the War of the Reapers, the War of the Spanish Succession and the French War.
The collection of medals consists of more than 9,000 pieces, ranging from the first specimens made in Italy during the second half of the 15th century to the present. The main part of the collection is made up of pieces produced in Spain, largely by well-known artists and engravers, who created medals of very remarkable quality. Thus, there is a good representation of medals made by masters of the eighteenth century as important as Tomás Francisco Prieto or Gerónimo Antonio Gil. At the end of the 19th century, especially since the Barcelona Universal Exposition of 1888, joined the creation of modernist sculptor medals, which gave rise to a splendid period in medal art, especially in Catalonia, as reflected in the Cabinet collection. The most important figure was Eusebi Arnau ‘s, but they also created high quality pieces by sculptors such as Parera, Blay, Limon or Gargallo.
The central core of the paper-value collection, which covers a wide range of different types of documents, is the banknote fund, with 4,100 copies. Highlights include the Spanish series containing emissions from the Bank of Spain from 1874 to the present and the number of paper value issued by the Government of Catalonia and the Catalan municipalities during the Spanish Civil War.
The Cabinet also guards pieces of various types that have great interest in their connection, directly or indirectly, with numismatics. These funds include, among others, manufacturing tools, monetary pesos, scales, jets, pellets, chips, stamps, decorations and various documentary collections.
The formation of this fund began thanks to a donation by Josep Salat to the Barcelona Board of Trade in the early nineteenth century. Years later, the Board of Trade donated this fund to the former Provincial Museum of Antiquities. After several locations, it was located for a few years at the Palau de la Virreina and finally at the MNAC.
Cabinet collections are complemented by the largest library in the field in the state, with more than 6,000 copies dealing with different aspects of numismatics.
Sert Room
Josep Maria Sert (1874-1945) was one of the most sought after muralist painters of his time. His mural painting assimilated the tradition of the great Venetian masters. It is worth remembering, among many others, his murals for the Rockefeller Center or the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York; the decoration of the League of Nations in Geneva, without forgetting the cathedral of Vic and numerous mansions in Paris, Buenos Aires, Venice and London. Indeed, in this last city in 1921, Sert was in charge of the decoration of the ballroom of Sir’s residencePhilip Sassoon, a leading figure in the political, cultural and financial world of British society. Sert covered that rectangular room (85 m2 and 6.5 m high) with oil-painted wooden panels, in black and silver, in a style that revives Baroque illusionism with connotations of l ‘art deco. The scene, titled Caravans of the Orient, features giant camels, palm trees with baroque fountains, ruins of a Greek temple, and human crowds marching toward an ideal city. The work was completed in the open sky, on which he painted clouds and a celestial hole. Died Sassoon in 1939, the residence was demolished. The panels, except for the roof, were saved and acquired, after different vicissitudes, by the. Due to the new installation at the museum, the whole set was restored, following the restoration of the mural paintings.
Library
The Joaquim Folch i Torres Library is the library of the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Its main mission is to support the Museum’s technicians, although its bibliographic and documentary heritage is also available to external audiences.
It is a reference center for the research of Catalan art, which brings together a specialized collection of more than 150,000 volumes on art, history, archeology, museology, conservation and restoration, photography and numismatics, among others. Collection of national and foreign magazines, a special holdings section that includes manuscripts, incunabula, postcards, bibliophile editions and works published before 1900, as well as a press archive and a section on small exhibition catalogs. Its bibliographic heritage is a fine example of artistic historiography and is a valuable resource for scholars.
Its past is centenary and has always been linked to museums in the city. For a long period it was owned by the municipality until 1990, with the enactment of Law 17/1990, of November 2, museums, was integrated into the organizational structure of the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Throughout this time, it has had several headquarters and different names until December 16, 2004, and opened at its current location.
It is currently located on the first floor of the National Palace, in a very bright space that, during the 1929 International Exhibition, functioned as a Tea Room.
Archive
Created in 1995, the General Archive of the MNAC has the purpose and responsibility of managing the documentary collections kept by the institution. It is divided between management, central, historical, and image and sound files.
This archive stores both the documentation generated by the museum itself since its creation, as well as all the institutions that integrate it and others that are linked with the process of creating the museum (Museum Board, personal collections….)
Museums-section
The Section Museums are part of the MNAC as a whole, but they are independently managed and owned by the respective councils. Currently 3 entities are part of it:
The Víctor Balaguer Museum Library: Located in Vilanova i la Geltrú, it was founded in 1884 by Víctor Balaguer as a thank you to the city for the support received in its political career. It has a painting library specialized in 19th and 20th century Catalan painting, with works by Santiago Rusiñol, Ramon Casas, Joaquim Vayreda, Martí Alsina, Dionís Baixeras, Isidre Nonell, Duran Camps and Xavier Nogués, others. It also has works from different periods in art history, with an Egyptian, pre-Columbian, Philippine, Eastern, archeological, and decorative collections. There are also deposited works of art from the Prado Museum.
The Cau Ferrat: located in Sitges, in the edge of the beach of San Sebastian, was the home and studio of Rusiñol. It was inaugurated as a museum in 1935, and contains several collections related to the artist and modernism. There is an important collection of irons, glass and popular ceramics. As for painting and drawings, you can see works by El Greco, Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo, Ignacio Zuloaga, Anglada Camarasa, Picasso or Darío de Regoyos, among others. One of the peculiarities is the layout of the works themselves.
The Garrotxa Museum: located in Olot, it specializes in Catalan painting and, more specifically, the members of the Olot school, where you can see works by painters such as Ramon Casas, Xavier Nogués, Leonci Quera, Ramon Amadeu, Miquel Blay and Josep Clarà and a collection of posters.
Educational activities
One of the other aspects of the MNAC is the number of educational and leisure services and proposals for families and schools. The museum has its own educational service that offers various learning resources and services adapted to different types of public.
Among others, one of the programs is The Museum, a common space for integration, aimed at people at risk of exclusion and who uses the Museum as an integrator, and the Museum hosts, aimed at integrating with other projects. training related to art.
Another of the proposals is the documentary film ” A Hand of Stories “, a joint initiative between TVC and the MNAC, in which 20 stories of representative paintings from the MNAC’s permanent collection are told in a story format, with a different look.
There are also activities that stimulate the relationship between children and active artists. Contemporary artists such as Philip Stanton, Gino Rubert and Lluïsa Jover have participated in this type of activity.
Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation
The museum has its own conservation and restoration center, which is responsible for ensuring the same collections, both those on display and those stored or deposited on loan. It is in charge of analyzing and studying the different works in the collection in order to provide information to art historians in need.
The Conservation and Preventive Conservation Center is responsible for preserving the MNAC’s collections. It ensures the physical integrity of the pieces in the collections that make up the exhibited collections, as well as those stored, deposited or on loan, while at the same time slowing down the aging process of the materials that make up the art. The Center also studies the material and technical aspects of the works, in order to provide scientific and technical advice to art historians of different periods, promoting dialogue and interdisciplinary studies.
Professionals in various specialties diagnose the alterations and pathologies of objects, determine the causes of their degradation and strive to eliminate the risks. In this sense, the aim is to create a stable environment and to achieve the best conditions of exposure, storage, handling, transport and packaging. It is, therefore, to minimize the degradation of the works with the help of appropriate environmental conditions, the most appropriate exhibition systems, the strict control of the movements of objects and the personalized restoration treatments.
Most of the actions carried out are of a preventive nature, but also the importance due to the application of curative treatments and the restoration interventions is also given. The latter are in the field of improving the aesthetic reading of works in which restorers of many previous generations have often worked, with other criteria than the current ones. However, this is not intended to return to the original state of the works, but to respect the passage of time and the justified contributions that are already part of the history of restoration in Catalonia and of the particular piece.
In this context, it should be remembered that the Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation of the MNAC is the heir of a profound renovation that was promoted by Joaquim Folch i Torres as director of the Museum of Art of Catalonia, especially from the 1930’s onwards. Junta de Museus sent Manuel Grau i Mas to train with Mauro Pelliccioli, then director of the Milan restoration laboratories, annexed to the Pinacoteca de Brera, which had a decisive influence on the whole of Europe in the field of restoration. The Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation is still working to become a reference point beyond the Museum itself, both in terms of the methodology of work, the rigor and the criteria applied.
It has scientific staff dedicated to preventive maintenance and the chemical laboratory, and a team of conservators-restorers specialized in various disciplines, according to the typology of the Museum’s collections: restoration of canvas painting and transferred wall painting; restoration of painting on table, polychrome wood sculpture and furniture; restoration of artwork on paper and photography, and restoration of petroleum, metals and fire arts.