The Palau de la Generalitat has two new tenants since this week. A painting by Miquel Barceló and another by Joan Miró have been incorporated into the Sala dels Deputats, an antechamber to the president's office, and are already competing for prominence, wall to wall, with Sant Jordi on horseback from the 15th century. Gothic art gives way to contemporary art, and it is literal, since Pere Aragonès also asked to remove two fifteenth-century tables and two period pieces of furniture from this room, where he holds work meetings, official meetings and receives leaders.
It was with this institutional dimension in mind and updating the image of the Generalitat that the president commissioned his team with a proposal to incorporate contemporary art, from his own funds, to complement the Gothic, of which there is already a lot in Palau, starting with the building itself. .
The move was made on Wednesday of this week, taking advantage of the fact that the president was in full session in Parliament, and the same workers who brought the Barceló and the Miró to Palau removed the two Gothic tables, which left for the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), and the two pieces of furniture, which will be relocated to another room in Palau to be determined. In addition to updating the artistic exhibition, the president had asked his collaborators for simplicity and sobriety. Let the Palau breathe.
Among the group of people who followed the operation was Anna Carreras, conservator-restorer of the MNAC, who audited the removed Gothic panels - Annunciation and Virgin Mary with the Child surrounded by holy martyrs and singing angels -, both dated to the second half of the century XV, to verify the state of conservation. The technicians make periodic revisions to the works of art, but it is clear that the conditions of light, humidity and temperature are not those of a museum.
This room in particular overlooks the Gothic gallery, next to the Pati dels Tarongers, and when you open the door you notice the change in temperature. "How hot," someone said as they entered. "I suffer for the paintings," Carreras whispered with a smile. Upon review, he certified that the boards had not been damaged.
“We checked the pictorial layer, the frame and the back, to confirm that the small damages they have coincide with those of the photographs and the entry reports of the pieces”, he explains. Then he will check if they have suffered any damage in the packaging and transport to the MNAC.
Jordi Arné, conservator-restorer at Macba, was also in the group of technicians to supervise the delivery of In Mali, a drawing by Miquel Barceló from the gallery owner Salvador Riera's collection that the Generalitat acquired in the 1990s. Being a work on paper, it is sensitive to humidity and excess light, which degrades it. “You need extra protection. That is why we have put a conservation plexiglass with a 99% ultraviolet filter, and it has a cardboard bottom and a display case frame ”, explains Arné. “The instructions I give is to close the doors so that light does not enter and to avoid sudden changes in temperature, which should be between 18 and 22 degrees,” he adds.
Before hanging this painting, the oil painting Homenatge a la dona del món, by Josep Bartolí, had been discarded on the fly. Seen one and the other on the wall, the Barceló fit better. Photos were sent by phone to the president, who validated the choice: "Ok, go ahead."
There was no doubt about the second of the paintings to hang. Le marchande de couleurs, an etching, aquatint and carborundum engraving by Joan Miró, from 1981, has sentimental value for Aragonès, since he has accompanied him on his office transfers since he entered the Government in 2016, as Secretary of Economy .
In the days of open doors in Palau, the Sala dels Diputats is one of those that is visited. The Barceló and the Miró will be there, which in the coming weeks may also witness a budget agreement and other negotiations. Before them is the meeting table of the president. At the other end of the room, the star is the Gothic painting Sant Jordi i el Drac, next to which there are two masts with the signal and the European flag. The official photos are taken there, but who knows, maybe that will change. The gentleman has had two serious competitors.
