Balma Badal
We, the Friends of the Museu Nacional are starting a new campaign of crowdfunding for acquiring for the museum an exceptional piece by Aurèlia Muñoz: Font de la vida (Source of life) a delicate tapestry of embroidered wool on jute fabric, which the artist produced in 1966. This work can currently be seen in the exhibition Knotting the space. Aurèlia Muñoz Donation. In the room, there are also the seven textile works and a collection of drawings that the artist’s family has donated to the Museu Nacional.
Font de la vida, a fundamental work in the artistic trajectory of Muñoz, doesn’t form part of the donation, even though it is exhibited alongside the other pieces. That’s why the Friends want to acquire it; to present it as a gift to the museum and achieve the fact that the tapestry stays in the museum and forms part of the collection, once the exhibition finishes, towards the end of 2020.
The beginning of this crowdfunding campaign, valued at €15,000, accompanies expected good news, and it is the fact that the restoration process of The violinist has entered the final phase. The sculpture by Pablo Gargallo has been restored thanks to the generosity of more than 250 donors, who have contributed the €46,000 needed through the campaign “Let’s save the violinist”.
The universe of Aurèlia Muñoz, first-hand
The Friends, in one of the last activities proposed of 2019, have had the privilege of seeing the exhibition Knotting the space. Aurèlia Muñoz Donation accompanied by Sílvia Ventosa, conservator of Textile and Fashion from the Design Museum and daughter of the artist, and of Àlex Mitrani, conservator of contemporary art of the Museu Nacional.
We have found out about, and first-hand, the artistic and personal trajectory of the artist, and we have explored her main sources of inspiration and the importance her figure had in the field of tapestry arts and textile art. This allowed us to understand the reasons that led Aurèlia Muñoz to becoming one of the most notable references of the international movement of the «new tapestry», which emerged halfway through the sixties of the last century, and which received recognition from the critics at an international level.
The Friends were also able to appreciate how her avant-garde works were linked to universal mystical concerns and at the same time have a great symbolic connection with works that we find in the museum’s collection. A important example of this dialogue that is established between her work and the collection can be found in Font de la vida, which has a certain parallelism with medieval pieces and a great symbolism related to the representation of the baptism of Christian art.
The donations for acquiring this work can be made until 10th December, through the webpage http://www.amicsdelmnac.org/en or in person by visiting the counter of the Friends in the museum’s foyer.
With initiatives such as the restoration of The Violinist and which we are starting up now, we continue joining forces and reaffirming one of the main missions of our Foundation: collaborating in the enrichment of the collection of the Museu Nacional.
From this blog, we call on the friends of the Museu Nacional and to all those people who want to see Font de la vida (Source of Life) on the walls of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya to highlight the commitment to grow the collection and to help us acquire a work to benefit the society.
We encourage you to make a donation. All contributions help!
Related links
The Violinist by Pablo Gargallo: a question of incompatibility
The violinista by Pablo Gargallo, video 04:17 min
Being a Friend of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the story of a friendship
Amics del Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
