National Museum of Catalonia Art (Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya)

 National Museum of Catalonia Art (Museo Nacional d’Art de Catalunya)

Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuic
Tel. 93- 622 03 60
Subway:Espanya
Open: Tue- Sat, am Sun & public holidays
Closed: Jan 1, May 1, Dec 25- 26

 

Description

The National Museum of Art of Catalonia (officially and in Catalan, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, also known by its acronym MNAC) is located in the National Palace, Sants-Montjuïc district, Barcelona (Spain). It stands out for its collection of Romanesque art, considered one of the most complete in the world. Its director is Josep Serra i Villalba.

The current museum was established in 1990 with the union of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, created in 1945, and the Museum of Art of Catalonia, inaugurated in 1934. A new numismatics section was added to the pieces from these museums. , another of engravings as well as the funds of the General Library of Art History. Later, in 1996, a new department dedicated to photography was added. In 2006, the museum's collection already had almost 250,000 works in the different collections. In addition to temporary and traveling exhibitions, the museum also carries out other functions such as the study, conservation and restoration of works of art.

The MNAC is a consortium formed by the Generalitat of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and, since the beginning of 2005, the General State Administration. In addition to public administrations, individuals and private entities are represented on the museum's board. who collaborate with the museum.

The main headquarters is located in the National Palace, a building located on the Montjuïc mountain, inaugurated in 1929 on the occasion of the International Exhibition held in Barcelona.

 

The National Palace of Montjuïc

The so-called National Palace was built for the 1929 International Exhibition, dedicated to an exhibition of Spanish art with more than 5,000 works from all over the national territory. The opening ceremony of the Exhibition took place in its Oval Room, presided over by Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenia. The project was by Eugenio Cendoya, Enric Catà and Pere Domènech i Roura. Built between 1926 and 1929, it has an area of 32,000 m². The waterfalls and fountains on the Palace steps were the work of Carles Buïgas, and nine large projectors were placed that still emit intense beams of light that write the name of the city in the sky. The speed of construction and the modesty of the materials explain why the building was showing deficiencies in terms of consistency, which would require important works when it was adapted as the headquarters of the Museum of Art of Catalonia (1934).

Its architectural style can be defined as eclectic or historicist revival depending on the taste that predominated at the time, especially in buildings with commemorative and grandiloquent purposes. Elements of the Renaissance and the Baroque were fused in order to try to combine the most typical and recognizable aspects of Spain with the classicism that was the norm in public buildings. Thus, the central dome may be reminiscent of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, while the side towers are almost carbon copies of the Giralda in Seville. Faced with these vertical elements of a certain harmony and lightness, the body of the building is solid, box-shaped and with hardly any windows, which gives it an effect of a certain heaviness.

Curiously, this apparent solidity did not correspond to the interior, which was showing support problems. The Italian architect Gae Aulenti was summoned, in the 80s, to tackle these problems and also to adapt the large interior spaces, with high ceilings, to their functions as exhibition halls. The works were prolonged due to technical complications and were undertaken in several phases, so that on the occasion of the 1992 Olympic Games only a prefiguration of the future museum could be presented. They were completed in 2004, with the new 19th century rooms and the deposit of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, to which another loan of works from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection was added in 2005.

Various artists participated in its decoration—noucentista style, contrary to the classicism of the architectural work—: in sculpture, Enric Casanovas created Work and Religion on the pendentives of the Salón de Pasos Perdidos, Archeology on the staircase of honor, and the West in one of the secondary domes; Josep Dunyach was the author of El Arte, on the staircase of honor, Oriente in another of the secondary domes, and La Fuerza y La Ley in the Salón de Pasos Perdidos; Frederic Marès and Josep Llimona made the statues located on the access stairs to the Palace. In painting: Francesc d'Assís Galí carried out the fresco paintings of the central dome, Josep de Togores decorated the drum of the dome, Manuel Humbert intervened in the pendentives, Josep Obiols in the lunettes, Joan Colom decorated the Tea Room and Francesc Labarta the Throne Room.

 

Collection

Among all the museum's collections, the Romanesque art collection stands out. The museum exhibits a series of mural paintings that make it unique in the world; They were removed from their original temples thanks to a support transposition technique called strappo. Various wood carvings, goldsmith pieces, enamels and stone sculptures are also displayed. Most of the pieces are samples of Romanesque art in Catalonia and Aragon.

From the Gothic period, the museum shows pieces made using various techniques that serve to illustrate this historical period in Catalonia. In the section dedicated to the Renaissance and the Baroque, two panels by Bartolomé Bermejo stand out, a Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew painted by Ribera, an Immaculate Conception by Zurbarán and a famous Saint Paul by Velázquez, one of the few safe paintings by said artist preserved outside the Museum. of the Prado. However, this section of the museum was incomplete and was considerably improved with the private collection of Francesc Cambó and a deposit from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

The Cambó Collection was donated selflessly. Among these works, highlights are paintings by Sebastiano del Piombo, Rubens, the Portrait of the Abbot of Saint-Non in Spanish Dress by Fragonard, two Venetian Scenes by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and a curious mythological scene, Cupid and Psyche, by Francisco de Goya.

Since 2004, the MNAC has hosted works from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, deposited by the Madrid museum in response to an agreement signed in 1986 between Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and Pasqual Maragall. The works were initially hung (1993) in the Pedralbes Monastery but it was decided to move them to the MNAC to facilitate public visits. Paintings from the periods between the Gothic and Rococo periods are shown, with examples by unusual authors in Catalan collections such as Fra Angelico, Lorenzo Monaco, Lucas Cranach, Ludovico Carracci, Canaletto and Giambattista Pittoni (The Rest on the Flight into Egypt).

Since 2005, the museum has also hosted some works of Catalan painting from the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, on free deposit. Among them are works by Mariano Fortuny, Lluís Graner, Ramon Casas, Joaquim Mir, Hermen Anglada Camarasa, Joaquín Torres García or Antoni Tàpies. In order to give them better accommodation and accompany them with more pieces, Baroness Thyssen and the museum reached an agreement in 2012 that stipulated their relocation to the neighboring Victoria Eugenia Pavilion, located at the foot of the main building; but this project appears to have been later scrapped.

The background of the 19th and 20th centuries is very varied, and reaches referential status with regard to Catalan Modernism. Highlights include several masterpieces by Fortuny, and examples by Isidre Nonell, Gaudí, José Gutiérrez Solana, Salvador Dalí, and even an impressionist landscape by Alfred Sisley. Recently the MNAC has incorporated several works by Pablo Picasso, among which it is worth highlighting Woman with Hat and Fur Collar, received as a donation for payment of taxes. In 2014 the museum presented a complete rearrangement of the 19th century rooms, incorporating numerous previously stored design pieces: posters, furniture.

 

Outstanding works:

Romanesque (11th–13th centuries)
Master of the Archangels — Frontal of the Archangels
Master of Avià — Front of Avià of the Church of Santa Maria de Aviá
Master of Baltarga — Baltarga altar frontal from the Church of San Andrés de Baltarga
Master of the Last Judgment — Fragment of the western wall of Santa María de Tahull of the Santa María de Tahull
Master of Pedret — Right lateral apse of San Quirico de Pedret (fragment) of San Quirico de Pedret
Pedret Circle — Apse of Santa Maria d'Àneu (fragment) of the Monastery of Santa María de Aneu
Master of Santa María de Tahull — Central apse of Santa María de Tahull of the Santa María de Tahull
Master of Soriguerola — Frontal de San Miguel
Master of Tahull — Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll of the Church of San Clemente de Tahull
Master of Urgel — Apse of Sant Pere de Seo de Urgel
Ribagorza Workshop — Cardet altar frontal, from the Church of Santa María de Cardet
Urgell Workshop — Front of the Seo de Urgell or the Apostles
Anonymous — Apse of Sant Joan de Surp de Surp
Anonymous — Altar of Tavèrnoles
Anonymous — Baldachin of Tost de Tost
Anonymous — Frontal of the altar of Sant Romà de Vila in the Church of Sant Romà de Vila
Anonymous — Front of Durro of Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God of Durro
Anonymous — Esquius Frontal by Esquius
Anonymous — Majesty of Batlló — La Garrocha Zone
Anonymous — Paintings of San Pedro de Arlanza by San Pedro de Arlanza
Anonymous - Passion Beam
Anonymous - Virgin of Ger from the church of Santa Coloma de Ger

 

Gothic (late 13th century–15th century)

Master of the Conquest of Mallorca — Wall paintings of the Conquest of Mallorca
Attributed to Guillem Seguer — Altarpiece of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi
Master of Baltimore — Annunciation and Epiphany
Master of Estopiñán — Altarpiece of San Vicente
Jaume Serra — Altarpiece of the Mother of God
Pere Serra - Virgen de los Ángeles
Attributed to Gonçal Peris Sarrià — Altarpiece of Santa Bárbara
Guerau Gener and Lluís Borrassà — Natividad and San Juan Evangelista
Bernat Despuig and Jaume Cirera — Struggle between angels and demons
Bernat Martorell — Altarpiece of San Vicente, Martyrdom of Santa Lucia
Juan Rexach — Altarpiece of Santa Úrsula and the eleven thousand virgins
Ramon de Mur — Virgen de la leche
Jaume Huguet — San Jorge and the princess, Consecration of San Agustín
Lluís Dalmau — Virgin of the Councillors
Jaume Ferrer Bassa — San Jerónimo, San Martín de Tours, San Sebastián and Calvario
Bartolomé Bermejo — Resurrection and descent of Jesus into Limbo
Miguel Ximénez — San Juan Bautista, San Fabián and San Sebastián
Fernando Gallego — Epiphany
Antoine de Lonhy — Altarpiece of the Virgin, Saint Augustine and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

 

Renaissance and Baroque (15th–18th centuries)

Lorenzo Monaco — The Virgin and Child enthroned with six angels
Fra Angélico — Virgen de la Humildad
Antonio del Pollaiuolo - The Roman Emperor Galba, in profile (marble bas-relief)
Master of Frankfurt - Triptych of the Baptism of Christ
Pedro Berruguete — San Gregorio Papa
Ayne Bru — San Cándido
Pere Nunyes — Altarpiece of San Eloy de los plateros
Paolo de San Leocadio — Lamentation over the dead body of Christ
Tiziano Vecellio and workshop — Woman in front of the mirror
Lucas Cranach the Elder — Unequal Love Couple
Jacopo Bassano — Calvario
Luis de Morales — Ecce homo
Doménikos Theotokópoulos, called El Greco — San Pedro and San Pablo
Giambattista Pittoni — Virgen con el Niño y santos
Giambattista Pittoni — Rest in the flight to Egypt (Pittoni)
Jacopo Tintoretto — Portrait of a gentleman
Annibale Carracci — Wall paintings of the Herrera Chapel
José de Ribera — Martyrdom of San Bartolomé
Diego Velázquez — San Pablo
Francisco Ribalta — Ramon Llull
Francisco de Zurbarán — Immaculate Conception, San Francisco de Asís according to the vision of Pope Nicholas V, Bodegón con cacharros
Pieter Paul Rubens — Virgin and Child with Santa Isabel and San Juanito
Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto — Return of the Bucentaur on Ascension Day
Giandomenico Tiepolo — The Minuet, The Charlatan
Salomon van Ruysdael — Sailboats at the side of a village
Francisco de Goya — Allegory of Love: Cupid and Psyche
Jean-Honoré Fragonard — Jean-Claude Richard, the abbot of Saint-Non, dressed in the Spanish style

 

Modern art (19th–20th centuries)

Lluís Rigalt — Ruinas
Mariano Fortuny — The battle of Tetuán, The vicarage, The odalisque
Ramón Martí Alsina — The siesta
Modest Urgell — The prayer touch
Joaquín Vayreda — The summer, The harvest
Alexandre de Riquer — Composition with winged nymph before sunrise
Darío de Regoyos — The downpour. Bahía de Santoña
Santiago Rusiñol — Laboratory of the Galette
Juan Brull - Dream
Edvard Munch — Portrait of Thor Lütken
Josep Llimona — Desconsolelo
Ramon Casas — Outdoor interior, Plein Air, Ramon Casas and Pere Romeu in tandem
Marià Pidelaserra — Mountains from Montseny. Clear day in the morning
Alfred Sisley — In Saint Mammès. June sun
Ricard Canals — Café concerto, La toilette
Hermen Anglada Camarasa — Grenadina, Le paon blanc
Joaquín Mir — The cathedral of the poor, Pueblo escalonado
Isidre Nonell — Two gypsies, La Paloma
Joaquín Torres García — Mujeres de pueblo, Constructive composition
Joaquín Sunyer — Cala Forn
José Gutiérrez Solana — The Choristers
Josep de Togores — Muchachas Catalanas
Salvador Dalí — Portrait of my father
Pablo Picasso — Woman with sombrero and leather neck
Antoni Tàpies — Blackish brown
Antoni Gaudí - Confidant of Casa Batlló
Julio González - Naturaleza muerta II
Remedios Varo - Accidentality of woman
Joan Miró - Mural for IBM

 

Drawings, engravings and posters

The Drawings and Engravings Office has the most important collection of art on paper in all of Catalonia, including Catalan works from the end of the 17th century to the arrival of the avant-garde, with also the presence of international authors from Dürer to Toulouse-Lautrec. Although the museum only exhibits a small representative sample of the collection, the MNAC has a collection of almost 100,000 works, including engravings, drawings and posters.​

It is worth highlighting the collection made up of two hundred original portraits by Ramón Casas of people who were his contemporaries, belonging to the cultural, artistic, political, economic and social world of Catalonia, the rest of the State and even abroad. Entered in 1909 to the Museum of Fine Arts of Barcelona, after having been exhibited in the Faianç Català Galleries on the occasion of the donation made by the artist, the drawings constitute one of the best iconographic collections of the Cabinet. Much of this work, begun by Casas in 1897, became known through the pages of Pèl & Ploma, a magazine of which Miquel Utrillo and Casas himself were co-founders, and above all through the exhibition held in 1899. , with great success, at the Sala Parés in Barcelona.

 

Photography

The photography collection has more than 6,000 copies. The oldest works date from the 19th century, but you can see works from different movements such as pictorialism, new objectivity, photojournalism, even neorealism and the contemporary period.

The collection has been established, in addition to some own acquisitions, thanks to a set of donations and deposits from collectors and the artists themselves (Colita, Joan Fontcuberta, Pere Formiguera, Carles Fontserè, Emilio Godes, José Lladó, Oriol Maspons, Kim Manresa , Josep Masana, Otho Lloyd, Antonio Arissa, Josep Maria Casals Ariet...).

Among the works on display are some on deposit from the Art Fund of the Generalitat of Catalonia, with works by Antoni Campañà, Pere Català Pic, Francesc Català Roca, Joan Colom, Manel Esclusa, Francesc Esteve i Soley among others, and works also in deposit of the Photographic Group of Catalonia, with photos by Claudi Carbonell and Joan Porqueras. In May 2012, the museum opened a monographic room with 24 works by Agustí Centelles and another with a selection of photographers from the Catalan photographic avant-garde until the Spanish Civil War.

 

Numismatics

The Numismatic Cabinet of Catalonia has the largest public collection of numismatics in Catalonia. It preserves more than 134,000 pieces that show the evolution of payment systems, from the first coins minted in Ampurias and Rosas in the 6th century BC. C. to the plastic cards of today, through an extensive collection of medals and paper money issued by the Catalan municipalities during the Spanish civil war, made up of more than 2,500 copies from 485 different towns. In the permanent exhibition you can see the history of currency in the Catalan territory through 27 display cases. The formation of this fund began thanks to a donation from Josep Salat to the Barcelona Board of Trade at the beginning of the 19th century. Years later, the Board of Trade gave this fund to the old Provincial Museum of Antiquities. After several locations, it was located for a few years in the Palacio de la Virreina in Barcelona, and finally in the MNAC.

The cabinet's collections are complemented by the most important library on this subject in Spain, with more than 6,000 copies that deal 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, artificial, sophisticated and enveloping, assimilated the tradition of the great Venetian masters. It is enough to remember, among many others, his mural paintings for the Rockefeller Center or the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York; the decoration of the League of Nations in Geneva, without forgetting the Vich cathedral and numerous mansions in Paris, Buenos Aires, Venice or London. Precisely, in this last city in 1921, Sert was in charge of decorating the ballroom of the residence of Sir Philip Sassoon, a relevant figure in the political, cultural and financial world of British society. Sert covered that rectangular room (85 m² and 6.5 m high) with wooden panels painted in oil, in black and silver tones, in a style that revives baroque illusionism with Art Deco connotations. The scene, titled Caravans of the East, includes gigantic camels, palm trees with baroque fountains, ruins of a Greek temple and human crowds advancing towards an ideal city. The work was completed on the ceiling, on which he painted clouds and a light blue opening. After Sassoon died in 1939, his residence was demolished. The panels, with the exception of the roof, were saved and were acquired, after various vicissitudes, by the Barcelona city council. On the occasion of the new installation of the MNAC, the complex has been restored, after restoring the wall paintings.​

 

Library

The National Art Museum of Catalonia has a century-old library specialized in art history, for a professional audience and for art history fans (researchers, conservators, students, teachers, critics, collectors or artists...). Thanks to its extensive bibliographic collection, it is a reference center in relation to artistic research.

The library was located in different spaces in Barcelona with different names during its hundred years of history, until December 16, 2004 when it was inaugurated in its current location. It is located on the first floor of the Palau Nacional, with views of the Albéniz Palace, in a bright space.

The collection is made up of some 105,000 documents that deal with topics of art, museology, conservation and restoration, photography, numismatics, archaeology, humanities and local history. Among these documents you can find incunabula and manuscripts. From the Library's collection, the History of Western art from the Early Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century stands out.

 

History

The first collections of the library of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia were gathered during the preparation of the Universal Exhibition of 1888, with contributions from private libraries of nineteenth-century works such as Martorell Penya, Pellicer, Vidal i Quadras, Riquer, Cabot i Esteve and Nadal. At that time it was known as the Graphic Library. Over the years, funds acquired through purchase as well as those from legacies and donations were incorporated.

It was opened to the public for the first time in 1907 in the Old Arsenal of the Citadel Palace, thanks to the creation of a special commission formed by Luis Nicolau d'Olwer and Jaume Bofill i Mates, which was in charge of ensuring the maintenance and consolidation of this. The funds are organized following the model of the Institut Internationale de Bibliographie. This task was initially carried out by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and followed by Joaquim Folch i Torres, appointed the center's first librarian in 1913. He divided the collection, of about 2000 works, between the Biblioteca Especial d'Art dels Museus and the Repertori Gràfic.

In 1926 the library was moved to the Governor's Pavilion of the Citadel, and in 1933 to the Spanish Town. During the war, it was kept in the Solà Morales House in Olot. Once the war ended and until 2004, the library moved to various locations and substantially expanded its collections, until it became a reference space.

Since its beginnings, the library carried out many exchanges with different national and international institutions, a system that served as an instrument of consolidation of the Museum.

 

Money

Within the extensive and specialized art collections, the Library specifically covers Western art from the Early Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century. In 2012 it had some 105,000 national and international documents on topics of art, museology, conservation and restoration, photography, numismatics, archaeology, humanities and local history. These funds also include almost 3,000 magazine titles, of which 450 correspond to magazines in the process of being received.​

The Library contains valuable pieces: artist's books, manuscripts of Catalan artists and art theorists from the 19th and 20th centuries, bindings that come mainly from the Toda and Marçal de Carvajal bequests, from the Riquer acquisition and a total of about 4000 volumes on various subjects, published before the year 1900, among which some incunabula should be highlighted. Along with these works, an important collection of the modernist period, noucentisme and the avant-garde is preserved.

 

Files

Created in 1995, the General Archive of the MNAC has the objective and responsibility of managing the documentary collections kept by the institution. It is divided between management files, central file, historical file and image and sound file.

This archive stores both the documentation generated by the museum itself since its creation, that of all the institutions that make it up and others that are linked to the process of creating the museum (Board of Museums, personal funds...).

 

Network of Art Museums

The National Museum, as a reference museum institution in Catalonia, promotes a network that articulates art museums in a common collaboration strategy, for the enhancement and dissemination of Catalan artistic heritage.

The Network of Art Museums was created with the aim of developing joint activities, services and projects to achieve greater social, tourist and scientific projection among all the museums that make it up.

The Network of Art Museums is made up of the Víctor Balaguer Museum Library, in Villanueva y Geltrú; the Gerona Art Museum; the Episcopal Museum of Vich; Diocesan and Regional Museum of Solsona; the Cau Ferrat Museum, in Sitges; the Garrocha Museum, in Olot; the Jaime Morera Art Museum, in Lérida; the Lérida Diocesan and Regional Museum; the Empordà Museum, in Figueras; the Reus Museum; the Valls Museum; the Manresa Museum and the Sabadell Art Museum, the Frederic Marès Museum, in Barcelona; the Abelló Museum, in Mollet del Vallès; the Cerdanyola Art Museum; Apel·les Fenosa Foundation; Barcelona Design Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona and Palau Foundation.

 

Restoration and Preventive Conservation Center

The museum has its own conservation and restoration center, in charge of looking after the same collections, both those on display and those stored or on loan. It is responsible for analyzing and studying the different works in the collection with the aim of providing information to art historians who need it.

The Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation is in charge of preserving the collections of the National Museum. It ensures the physical integrity of the pieces of the collections that make up the exhibited funds and the pieces stored, deposited or on loan, while delaying the aging speed of the materials that make up the works of art as much as possible. The Center also studies the material and technical aspects of the works to offer scientific and technical advice to art historians of different periods, promoting dialogue and interdisciplinary studies.

Professionals from various specialties diagnose alterations and pathologies of objects, determine the causes of degradation and strive to eliminate risks. In this sense, the objective is to create a stable environment and achieve the best conditions for exhibition, storage, handling, transportation and packaging. It is, therefore, about minimizing the degradation of the works with the help of adequate environmental conditions, the most appropriate exhibition systems, strict control of the movements of objects and individualized restoration treatments.

Most of the actions carried out are preventive in nature, but importance is also given to the application of curative treatments and restoration interventions. The latter are situated in the field of improving the aesthetic reading of works on which restorers of many previous generations have often worked, with criteria other than the current ones. In any case, the aim is not only 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 piece in particular.

In this context, it is worth remembering that the Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation of the National Museum is heir to a profound renovation promoted by Joaquim Folch i Torres while he was director of the Museum of Art of Catalonia, especially from the 1930s, when the Board of Museums sent Manuel Grau Mas to train with Mauro Pelliccioli, director of the Milan restoration laboratories, attached to the Brera Pinacoteca, which had a decisive influence throughout Europe in the field of restoration. The Center for Restoration and Preventive Conservation is currently continuing to work to become a reference center beyond the Museum itself, both for the work methodology and for the rigor and criteria applied.

It has scientific staff dedicated to preventive conservation tasks 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 painting on canvas and transferred mural painting; restoration of painting on panel, polychrome wooden sculpture and furniture; restoration of works of art on paper and photography, and restoration of stone materials, metals and fire arts.

 

Directors

List of directors of the National Museum of Art of Catalonia since it was founded:
1934-1939: Joaquim M. Folch i Torres
1939-1948: Xavier de Salas
1948-1985: Joan Ainaud de Lasarte
1985-1985: Lluís Domènech
1985-1991: Joan Sureda
1991-1994: Xavier Barral
1994-2005: Eduard Carbonell
2006-2011: Maite Ocaña
Since 2012: Pepe Serra