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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFine Arts Palace, 1891.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The origins of these exhibitions must be sought in the fine art section of the 1888 Exhibition, which served as a trial and a point of reference. From then on the Board organized exhibitions every two years, bringing together, in the organization and the judging panels, important names such as Josep Llu\u00eds Pellicer, Puig i Cadafalch, Dom\u00e8nech i Montaner, Raimon Casellas, Salvador Sanpere i Miquel, Manuel Fux\u00e0, Dionis Baixeras, Josep Llimona and Carles Pirozzini. Held in the now demolished Palau de Belles Arts \u2013 an eclectic building constructed for the 1888 Universal Exhibition and designed by August Font i Carreras \u2013 each edition had painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving and decorative arts sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Exhibitions of the Nineteenth Century<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After defining the legal framework and the regulations that governed them, the Board announced the first exhibition for 1891, repeating in 1892, 1894, 1896 and 1898.These five exhibitions served to established the periodicity of events eagerly awaited among artistic circles. At the same time they were crucial for defining a clear purchasing policy that would lay the foundations of the Museum of Fine Art, the embryo of what would later be the Barcelona Museum of Modern Art, and therefore the origin of the Museu Nacional\u2019s current modern art collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ramon Casas, Plein air<\/a><\/em>, Paris, c. 1890-1891. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This first series coincided with the irruption of Modernisme,<\/em> the reason why major examples of the movement were presented at these events. Singular works such as Plein Air<\/em> by Ramon Casas, Laboratory of La Galette<\/em> by Santiago Rusi\u00f1ol and Reading<\/em> by Joan Llimona were exhibited at the 1891 edition, and purchased afterwards. In 1894 Rusi\u00f1ol\u2019s Romantic Novel<\/em> was purchased, along with Leaving the Ball<\/em> by Rom\u00e0 Ribera. They were joined by the sculpture The First Cold<\/em> by Miquel Blay. There were also famous participations like that of a young Picasso with First Communion<\/em> \u2013 now in the Picasso Museum \u2013 at the 1896 edition, this being the only time the artist took part in the Catalan exhibitions. In 1898 Casas exhibited another essential work in his production: The Corpus Christi Procession Leaving the Church of Santa Maria,<\/em> which entered the museum. Sculpture projects were also presented that would later beautify the city, such as the Fountain of Diana<\/em>, the work that Venanci Vallmitjana exhibited in the 1898 edition and which was erected in the Gran Via in 1919; or the monumental Virgin of Mercy<\/em> that crowns the dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy, a work 6.5 metres tall that Maxim\u00ed Sala exhibited in 1891 with the aid of a large crane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exhibitions in the New Century<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joan Llimona. V Exposicion Internacional de Arte<\/em>,<\/a> April 1907. \u00a9Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya<\/p>\n\n\n\n The halting of exhibitions between 1898 and 1907 was due to the grave social and political crisis that followed the disaster of 1898, and to the subsequent cultural reformulation arising from the emergence of the Lliga Regionalista, together with the reorganization of the Board between 1902 and 1907. These events made the exhibitions in the new century even more forceful, so that when the time was right, the 5th<\/sup> International Exhibition was announced in 1907. It was the biggest and best grand exhibition of fine art held up to then, an event that brought together as many as 2,000 works coming from countries as far away as Japan, and with first-rate participation by foreign artists. This was the occasion when the cr\u00e8me of French Impressionism was exhibited in the city for the first time, a great group of 40 pieces with names like Monet, Manet, Sisley and Renoir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Catalog of the V Exposici\u00f3n Internacional de Bellas Artes e Industrias Art\u00edsticas : cat\u00e1logo ilustrado<\/em>. Barcelona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, despite the efforts made, none of them entered the museum. Sculptures by Rodin and Duchamp-Villon could also be admired, a series of paintings by the Englishman Frank Brangwyn, a sanguine by the Pre-Raphaelite Burne-Jones, plus examples of Italian Divisionism with Gaetano Previati and the Futurism of Giacomo Balla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edward Burne-Jones, Study of a Female Head<\/a><\/em>, 1894. \u00a9Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Catalan section in 1907 was also a great spectacle: while it served to present post-Modernisme<\/em> as a fully defined movement, with works by Ricard Canals, Ramon Pichot, Joaquim Mir and Isidre Nonell, Modernisme<\/em> made a triumphant entry with a gallery of honour reserved for Casas and Rusi\u00f1ol, along with the sculptures of Miquel Blay, Enric Claras\u00f3, Josep Llimona \u2013 who presented Desolation<\/em> \u2013 and Carles Man\u00ed, from Tarragona. Ignacio Zuloaga was the big Spanish winner, with a gallery of honour, and his painting My Cousins<\/em> was purchased. In this edition two landscapes by Mir, The Rock in the Pond<\/em> and Thundery Sky,<\/em> were also purchased, as well as La Toilette<\/em> by Ricard Canals, a work of pronounced French influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joaquim Mir, The Rock in the Pond<\/a><\/em>, c. 1903. \u00a9Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last exhibition, the 6th<\/sup> International Exhibition in 1911, was unable to match the high artistic level achieved in 1907, but even so 1,700 works were displayed and it served to clearly show the irruption of Noucentisme<\/em>, with notable participations by Clar\u00e0 \u2013 who came from Paris \u2013 and also Torres-Garcia. Spanish participation was notable, with the participation of the leading artists who were producing traditional views of regional Spain, names like Antoni Mu\u00f1oz Degrain, Eduardo Chicharro, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda L\u00f3pez Mezquita, Gonzalo Bilbao, and Julio Romero de Torres, whose The Retable of Love <\/em>was purchased, a work that had previously been presented in Madrid, where it generated a major controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n