Antoni Vila Casas has undoubtedly been a great gentleman and the most important promoter of contemporary art in Barcelona and Catalonia. He has died just when there are signs of the awakening of art, after the terrible pandemic and economic crises. The recent Gallery Weekend was a success. We were able to visit 28 galleries, including the Palmadotze in the Penedès, as well as two art centers: the Macba and the Espais Volart Fundació Vila Casas, where we were able to see an exhibition by Fina Miralles and another by Maria Girona, in in which there are some paintings from our collection. We have always liked to collaborate with the Vila Casas Foundation, as we already did in a Ràfols-Casamada exhibition and another in Subirachs.
Both the galleries and the art centers were packed, and that they closed at nine in the evening and were open until three in the afternoon on Sunday. Maybe it helped that they served beers from a sponsor. To be able to visit almost all of them, we had to organize ourselves well. This was facilitated by the smart decision of the Taché gallery, which left its location near Montjuïc to move to Carrer Trafalgar, which has already established itself as another gallery center as important as Consell de Cent i Enrique Granados
It's true that we don't have a big art fair like Arco or Miami Basel, nor the hundreds of South American collectors who have settled in Madrid, but, since the beginning of the 20th century, the people from Barcelona who could they had a Casas or a Rusiñol that they proudly showed their friends. For this reason, our love for art, which comes from far away, could not die, no matter how much economic or health crises have put it in danger.
I am deeply glad of this awakening of galleries, which show established artists and other new ones, with the desire to transcend, that their work is known, appreciated and, above all, able to generate emotions.
How I would have liked to visit this Gallery Weekend with Antoni Vila Casas!
