No complexes: Catalonia shields its comic heritage

BarcelonaFor some time now, comics have no longer had to knock on museum doors in search of recognition and cultural validation. Being popular and irreverent has not prevented them from being exhibited in the art galleries of major museums. The MNAC, for example, placed some panels by Josep Coll about the tram strike next to a painting by Joan Miró. For a long time, however, it was not merged on equal footing with what was considered art in capital letters. And, consequently, there was no policy to preserve a heritage that in Catalonia is quite important.

"Catalonia is, by tradition and volume, the capital of comics in Spain. Many cartoonists, like Vázquez, came from Madrid because in Barcelona there were the publishing houses and a tradition that began in the late 19th century with all the satirical press," explains journalist and comic specialist Jaume Vidal. "In the sixties of the 20th century, thousands of pages of romantic and horror comics were produced in Barcelona for British and Scandinavian publishers, often anonymously, but with a technical quality that ended up defining European comics," he adds. Many great authors were trained in Barcelona, and now many of them also work for French and American publishers. For Vidal, institutional awareness came when it became evident that the heritage was disappearing or being destroyed. This 'now or never' forced the creation of a specialized commission to identify essential authors and track down lost works.

In recent years, the Generalitat has had to get its act together to avoid losing such important heritage. In 2019, the Government created a specific acquisition line with the aim of preserving and strengthening the comic and illustration collections. All acquired works are deposited in the country's museums, as well as in the Library of Catalonia. It started with a budget of 40,378 euros per year and has gradually increased to allocate 159,600.94 euros in 2025. In addition, the facilities have a budget item for acquiring comics. There are many challenges, however. Comics and illustration were not created to hang on walls, but to be sold at newsstands. There is a lot of debate about how they are acquired, how they are documented, how they are preserved, and how they are exhibited.

An uninhibited way of explaining diversity

An uninhibited way to explain diversity

At the Sitges Museum, for example, many comics related to the fantastic genre and LGBTIQ+ diversity have been incorporated into the narrative. To the illustrations by Santiago Rusiñol and Lola Anglada, scenes from the work of the cartoonist and publicist Jacint Bofarull and Històries de Sitges. Mascles al sol, by Sebas Martín, have been added. "Comics are one of the most important tools we have for building a social museum. It is a genre that hides nothing and allows us to talk about topics such as identity, freedom, and the LGBTIQ+ community with unique uninhibitedness," explains Romero. At the Abelló Museum in Mollet, they have focused mainly on working with the contributions of women such as Marta Cartú and Raquel Gu; the Empordà Museum has integrated the drawings of Enric Sió, linked to the underground, and of illustrators Ignasi Blanch and Dani Torrent, and the Morera de Lleida, the author Alfons López. "One of the challenges is conservation because they are extremely fragile materials sensitive to light, which forces a constant rotation of pieces – warns Romero –. Mixed formulas can be used to exhibit them, from display cases and wall frames to drawers that allow the viewer to discover documentary elements".

The MNAC has also been working for some time to integrate comics into the museum's narrative. "A turning point was the exhibition on the magazine El Víbora in 2019, which highlighted the need to rescue underground and countercultural comics from the second half of the 20th century," explains Àlex Mitrani, curator of contemporary art at the MNAC. Vidal agrees that there was a gap: "We have let many originals go because they haven't been valued here. A lot of powerful and groundbreaking underground material from the 70s and 80s left the country," laments Vidal.

Comics were already part of the MNAC long before the creation of a commission, as it preserves numerous works by the masters of illustration in Catalonia: there are the works of Opisso, Cornet, and Junceda, for example. Furthermore, it opened a communication channel with the Saló del Còmic (now Comic Barcelona) a few years ago and hosted workshops and exhibitions. "The function of comics is not just to document, but to be presented with the same dignity and museographic resources that allow the visitor to appreciate their own plastic qualities; there are no hierarchies," states the MNAC curator. The museum exhibits works by Marika Vila (Grand Prize of the Saló del Còmic in 2024) and a drawing by Laura Pérez Vernetti, which was the only cover of the magazine El Víbora made by a woman. Both were awarded the Grand Prize of the Saló del Còmic in 2024 and 2018, respectively.

"Furthermore, with the future expansion of the MNAC, comics will be able to have a specific space that explains their history," advances Mitrani. The museum does not want it to be an add-on to fit in; comics are not an accompaniment or a document about the era, but they must be there because they are an essential part of visual culture. "It is the way a society imagines and interprets its reality in a collective and popular way," specifies Mitrani. In 2020, the museum held

an exhibition where the central work was the originals by Núria Pompeia on gestation and pregnancy, in dialogue with the avant-garde art of Mari Chordà. Comics were no longer the complement, but the engine. It has also been an engine at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), which in 2022 promoted Constel·lació gràfica

, an exhibition of the new generation of avant-garde authors, and which in 2025 hosted one of the major events dedicated to comics: the exhibition of Chris Ware.

The search for generational bridges

In the case of the Library of Catalonia, the turning point was the centenary of TBO. Although it already held historical collections, it was not until 2016 that a conscious and systematic acquisition line was initiated. "In 2016, with the centenary of TBO, a large collection of authors was acquired that opened this more conscious acquisition line. Before, we had historical comics, but the leap to contemporary illustration was consolidated then," explains Sílvia Ferrer, director of the graphic unit of the Library of Catalonia. Since then, the collection has grown through a combination of direct purchase and, above all, donations, the result of a network of trust woven with authors and collectors themselves. One of the initiatives has been to also visualize and recover the work of female authors, and it has brought together collections of fundamental illustrators such as Pilarín Bayés, Núria Pompeia, and Carme Barberà.

2023 marked a milestone with the exhibition of women illustrators at the Museum of History of Catalonia. The project not only looked to the past but also created a generational bridge: 35 historical illustrators from the 20th century were selected, and 35 contemporary illustrators were commissioned to create portraits of their predecessors. Unlike museums, which often seek the "unique piece" for exhibition, the Library of Catalonia has a research function. Therefore, the interest lies in the complete trajectory of the author. Eugènia Serra, director of the Library of Catalonia, highlights the importance of preserving not only the finished work: "We are interested in recording the creation process: the sketches, the first version, the second... The researcher who wants to do a study on an author's work must be able to have this research perspective".

Historically, there were attempts to create a dedicated space, such as the project for the

Museum of Comics of Badalona,

but the Generalitat did not deem it feasible due to the expenses involved and prioritized strengthening existing facilities. Others have succeeded, such as the Museum of Comics and Illustration of Sant Cugat del Vallès.

Digitization should be the key to bringing comics out of the shadows. In 2022, the Portal of Comics and Illustration, a collaborative platform between museums, institutions, and collectors, was created. Currently, all acquisitions are published on DRAC, where pieces can be consulted online with all related information and the works (which are still few) digitized.