The MNAC displays the 135 works that the dictatorship did not return to their owners

BarcelonaWhile thousands of people fled as best they could toward the French border, on February 4, 1939, at the Can Pol farmhouse in Montfullà, Bescanó, where the Generalitat (Catalan government) had stored works of art from Tarragona to protect them from the war, a woman and her children awaited the arrival of Franco's troops. The woman in question was Rosa Sendrós Carbonella, the wife of Pere Rius, the curator of the Reus Museum, and she had the delicate task of handing over the keys to the storage facility to the rebel soldiers. This anecdote perfectly illustrates the story the exhibition aims to tell. Recovered from the enemy. Francoist caches at the MNACwhich can be seen at the National Art Museum of Catalonia until June 28. In the first room, there is another document that demonstrates this commitment by Catalan institutions to safeguarding heritage: a sketch made by the archivist Agustí Duran i Sanpere showing all the collections distributed throughout Catalonia, to facilitate the work of the victors.

When the Civil War broke out in July 1936, the Generalitat, to protect them from bombs, seized and moved tens of thousands of works to different storage facilities in Barcelona, ​​Olot, Manresa, Vic, Girona, Poblet, Viladrau... When the Francoists won the war, they seized private and public collections, from churches, parishes, and monasteries. All of this passed into the hands of the National Artistic Heritage Defense Service (SDPAN), which, starting in 1939, began returning the works to their owners. But many repatriations were never completed. Among these unreturned works are the 135 that can be seen at the MNAC. They are not the only ones.

The exhibition shows only a fragment of The investigation, which began in 2022, was conducted by the Catalan Institute for Heritage Research. (ICRPC), and which is scheduled to end this August. "When we started the project, we anticipated that 25 Catalan museums might have objects seized during the Civil War. Following the trail, we've discovered that there were more than 50," explains Gemma Domènech, director of the ICRPC and co-curator with EdCard Caball. "It's a risky exhibition; it's not easy and may be uncomfortable for some, because it addresses episodes from the past. Others won't like it either, because the works don't have the quality expected in a museum like the MNAC. It requires an open mind," Domènech asserts.

Furthermore, the works are displayed exactly as they were in storage because the aim is to show their damage. And some have quite visible damage, such as a 1352 Christ head, severed from its body, which came from the Holy Sepulchre in the Corpus Christi chapel of the Old San Agustín convent. Another work that ended up damaged, this time by a group of zealous seminarians who stabbed it in 1940, is Nakedby Roberto Fernández Balbuena (1891-1966).

"The Francoists created their own narrative, repeated it so often, and we heard it so frequently, that we even came to believe it. They neither recovered nor saved anything," Domènech asserts. Both curators have followed every clue they could find, such as the labels on the back, to try to trace the pieces' journey, but in many cases, they haven't found the artist or the owner. If the Francoists were to sell the narrative that they were safeguarding the heritage, they also had to manage the storage and return the works. A great deal of work fell to them. Between February 18, 1939, and February 23, 1940, all the materials were deposited in five main storage facilities: the National Palace, the Pedralbes Monastery, the Carrer de la Palla, the Palau Centelles, and the Caixa de Pensions. "It was a very long bureaucratic process, and many owners couldn't claim their property. They had to appear in person, go to the warehouses, and request the pieces with a guarantee from third parties aligned with the regime…," Caballé explains. Those who were on the losing side had a difficult time appearing in person and making any claims.

The surprise of an SDPAN worker

The Francoists placed the label "Recovered from the enemy"But in the exhibition, you can see how the Republicans did a thorough job. There is a letter from Josep Puigdemoles Barella where he expresses his astonishment: "Everything, or almost everything, that we are classifying and sending to the Police Station was stored away, either destined for churches or in secure locations [...] but it comes recovery“As I’m still new to this service, these things surprise me a lot.” There are also some dark chapters, such as the theft by a museum employee, Josep Gibert Buch, who took some works. The SDPAN raided his home and found 35, of which seven are kept at the MNAC. 19 were returned because their owners claimed them. Specifically, these are seven sculptures by Emiliano Barral, who died at the beginning of the Civil War, and two works by Miquel Viladrich. “Will the owners claim the rest of the 135 works? It’s a question that no one answered during Thursday’s press conference. If anyone wants to take notes, they can,” Domènech states. The exhibition is a continuation of Museum in danger!which in 2021 allowed for the investigation and uncovering of the extraordinary feat of safeguarding artistic heritage during the Spanish Civil War. "It's an exercise in transparency and also tells, in part, the story of the museum," says Eduard Vallès, curator at the MNAC. "For some years now, we've dedicated a significant space to the Civil War because we have so many works. We try to showcase this period, which is not only art history but also the history of the country," Vallès adds. In this vein, he announced an exhibition this May focusing on the cartoonist José Luis Rey Vila, better known as Sim, who worked for the Republican side. The MNAC recently acquired some of his work. Among the drawings that will be on display are... Militiawoman and wounded soldier.Recovered from the enemy. Francoist caches at the MNAC "It's also an experiment in light of what we're going to do with the museum expansion in 2029," says Vallès.