Francesc Quílez On the verge of commemorating, next year, the hundredth anniversary of the acquisition of a workas emblematic as The Spanish Wedding, purchased through popular subscription, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya has recently enriched its collection of works by Marià Fortuny with a new acquisition that corroborates the close relationship that, throughout its…
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Joan Yeguas The materials in the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya’s storeroom include works little known to the public and to Art History scholars. One example is Still-life by Antonio Ponce. An oil painting on canvas (38 x 55 cm), it entered the museum in 1962 as part of the bequest of Domènec Teixidó i…
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Mariàngels Fondevila One of the essential tasks of conservators is restructuring the collection, as well as stimulating its growth, so that it does not stagnate like a Pontine marsh. The museum has reopened the room Modern Life: Photography, Advertising, Film and Design, adding previously unexhibited works, and some newly admitted ones, to those already in…
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Eduard Vallès There are characters who, without much fuss, appear behind countless cultural projects. One of the most solid cases in Catalan art is that of Miquel Utrillo, whose work had effects on heritage, art criticism and cultural initiatives of all kinds and the most difficult to measure, as the transmission of ideas or the…
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Albert Estrada-Rius The correct weight of coins, a matter of public order Rulers have always claimed the power to guarantee metrological public order for the benefit of the common good. This means that it has traditionally been the authorities that have compulsorily established the system of weights and measures in force in transactions. This responsibility…
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Albert Estrada-Rius From a family memory to the public heritage, the example of the Tarradell weighing scale manufacturing company Part of the historical material from the old Tarradell weighing scale workshop has recently entered the museum. It is a donation offered by sisters Núria and Eulàlia Tarradell i Font in memory of their father, the…
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Francesc Quílez The Battle of Tetouan, an excessively uncomfortable commission The Battle of Tetouan remained abandoned, half-finished, and became one of the most emblematic images in the studio that Fortuny had turned into a house-museum in the city of Rome in order to house his collection. The object occupied, as a decorative frieze, a preferential…
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Francesc Quílez The fact that such a brilliant, decisive and efficient artist, as Marià Fortuny was (1838-1874), remains contradictory, due to his known facility to achieve fast and excellent results in any discipline; from time to time he would show an unexpected weakness that led him to a state of creative melancholy and he was…
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Eduard Vallès If there is a Catalan artist who evokes the painting of light like few others, it is Joaquim Mir (Barcelona 1873-1940). For example, the subliminal and almost dreamlike landscapes of the coasts of Mallorca, or the relentless sun over the landscapes of Tarragona, incorporate plastic values that transfer the painting to a high…
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Mireia Berenguer It is important not to lose sight of the museum’s origins and to keep in mind the people who contributed to its creation. And this is the reason for the task we are carrying out at the museum to collect the biographies of the characters linked to the history of the museum and…
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