The 130th anniversary of Torres-Garcia’s arrival in Barcelona (1892-2022): Torres-Garcia in the Museu Nacional’s collections/1

Eduard Vallès In 2022 it is exactly 130 years since the artist Joaquim Torres-Garcia (Montevideo, 1874-1949) arrived in Barcelona. I feel the anniversary is the perfect excuse to shine the spotlight on one of the most international artists who worked – and also trained – in Catalonia. That is why we will write about his…

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Author: Eduard Vallès

The Art of Speaking: a new approach to language learning through art

Josep Maria Planas A group of students stand in front of a painting in the museum, and after observing it for a while they begin talking about what they see, directed by their teacher, who this time changes his or her role for that of a facilitator.  The participants are making up stories, discovering enigmas,…

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Author: Josep Maria Planas

2021 at the Museu Nacional

2021 has been a year that has still been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we have worked with the conviction that the museum is a meeting place with art and with others, a collective experience that offers enjoyment, safety, reflection, debate and dialogue in difficult times. For this reason, we wanted to make a…

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Author: Redacció museu

Ricard Opisso: bittersweet memories and anecdotes of Gaudí

Mariàngels Fondevila Over the years, the popular cartoonist and humorist Richard Opisso i Sala (Tarragona 1880-Barcelona 1966) wrote his memoirs in a “Bohemian” style and with some inaccuracies but interesting as a testament to a time of effervescence. These manuscripts (preserved by the Archive of the Opisso Family) recall intimate and unofficial stories of artists…

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Author: Mariàngels Fondevila

Winter postcards in the collections of the Museu Nacional

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Seasonal changes have always been a source of inspiration for artists. The landscape and the climate have a decisive influence on our mood and our perception of the reality around us. With the onset of winter, our environment is changing, giving way to postcards of snow and icy squares and streets. Fog, bare trees, and…

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Author: Redacció museu

Joan Gardy Artigas, a silent link between Hamada Shōji and Llorens Artigas

Ricard Bru i Turull It must have been back in 2010 when I met Joan Gardy Artigas, son of Josep Llorens Artigas, at the Mas El Racó in Gallifa. I remember that on that first visit to his house I told him that I had just worked on an exhibition at the Museu Picasso in…

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Author: Ricard Bru

The Miralles altarpiece is exhibited in the first Antoine de Lonhy retrospective

Cèsar Favà and Ruth Bagan Until 9 January 2022, the work will be displayed in the exhibition Il Rinascimento europeo di Antoine de Lonhy, in the Palazzo Madama-Museo Civico d’Arte Antica in Turin. It sheds light on the painter’s work in Catalonia, together with a reproduction of the other work surviving from the same period:…

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Author: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

A change of identity in a portrait by Claudio Coello from the Cambó Bequest

Joan Yeguas In 1949, along with the main group of paintings from his collection, the portrait of a gentleman – with inventory number 64995 – entered the museum via the bequest of Francesc Cambó i Batlle (Verges, 1876 –Buenos Aires, 1947). On the back of the canvas there was an inscription in French that has…

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Author: Joan Yeguas

Paper patients: thirteen modernist posters and a drawing

Berta Blasi We have on the operating table before us 14 large-format patients. They are 13 posters by makers who have left their mark on Modernisme: Adolf Hohenstein, Jean Ubaghs, Théopile Alexandre Steinlen, Jules Chéret, Ethel Reed, Henri Privat-Livemont, Leonetto Cappiello, Henri-Gustave Jossot and Leonardo Bistolfi, and an original drawing by Apel·les Mestres, recently identified…

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Author: Berta Blasi

“Three Beggars” by Giacomo Ceruti under the scrutiny of a dermatologist

Dr. Xavier Sierra i Valentí Three Beggars, Giacomo Ceruti, known as Il Pittocchetto, 1736. Thyssen-Bornesmiza Collection, (on long-term loan to the Museu Nacional). In this painting by Giacomo Ceruti we can see three old beggars dressed in rags. Ceruti, who was also known as “Il pittochetto” was a painter of the late Italian Baroque, active…

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Author: Dr. Xavier Sierra i Valentí