Casas, Nonell, Sunyer, Rusiñol, Pruna, Togores, Nonell, Anglada-Camarasa, Huguet, Pichot, Gargallo... Beyond Picasso, Dalí and Miró, Catalan art at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th has Valuable names that nobody questions behind closed doors but whose international recognition still leaves much to be desired. In order to get them out of the dark and position them in the market at the same level as their French or German counterparts, the Barcelona galleries Sala Parés and Artur Ramon, and the London-based Colnaghi, sealed a strategic alliance that is currently experiencing its third chapter of success. in London with the Barcelona-Paris exhibition (1860-1936). A journey to Modernity.
"The response is being very good at all levels," explains gallery owner Joan Anton Maragall, whose Sala Parés will host a new version of the London show in December. It is a compilation of works made in Paris –or immediately after their return– by Barcelona artists who lived in the French capital between 1860 and 1936. The essence of the exhibition will be the same. But upon arrival in Barcelona, not all the pieces will be there. Of the 35 works collected, at least twelve have already become part of foundations and private collections in the United Kingdom. And initially there were three others (by Olga Sacharoff, Joaquim Sunyer and Josep de Togores) that never even left Spain since "they were acquired by the Reina Sofía Museum while the export permit was being processed," says Maragall.
“This is the third exhibition that we have jointly organized and also the most ambitious, both due to the specificity of the theme and the quality of the works,” continues the gallery owner, who, as has happened in previous exhibitions, The golden age of Spanish modern art and Spanish modern landscapes, have been able to confirm that there is a market for Catalan painting from this period and that there is still a long way to go. “In the painting they call masters, London is the capital of the world; a very open and receptive city where French painting from this period has always been present and which now wants to discover new things”. The price of the exhibited works ranges between 20,000 and 400,000 euros.
This appreciation on the part of international collectors collides with the disinterest of the Catalan sphere, where many heirs or future heirs, "I do not say all, but a part", part with the art that their parents treasured. “It is a phenomenon very local”, concludes Maragall. "Historically, the local public rediscovers a part of its art or its architecture when it is rediscovered abroad."
