The Government allocates 3.5 million euros to expand the National Collection
Among the most emblematic acquisitions are a National Pescara car and works by Torres-García, Sacharoff and Masats
BarcelonaThe National Collection continues to grow. This Wednesday, the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar, announced the 431 acquisitions made over the past year, totaling 23,090 works, valued at €3.5 million. Among the most emblematic are a Catalan-made Nacional Pescara automobile; the paintings The family, by Olga Sacharoff, and Portrait of Manolita Piña, by Joaquín Torres-García; three sculptures by Ismael Smith; the tapestry Starbird, by Aurèlia Muñoz, and the engraving Saint Jerome in a dark room, by Rembrandt. For Hernández, the National Collection is a "priority" since it must allow society "to identify itself as a community." The councilor also highlights the variety and chronological scope of the acquisitions, from ancient Greece to the present day. Other works acquired include Exorcism of Princess Sofia before the body of Saint Anthony the Abbot, by Ramon de Mur (c. 1430); a fragment of an altarpiece from the Miracle of Saint Martin, by the Master of Son (late 15th century); the luxury copy of the manuscript of the Court Ordinations of Pedro III, king of Catalonia-Aragon (1450-1514), and the incunabulum of the Constitutions of Catalonia (1495).
As for contemporary art, works by 41 artists (22 men and 19 women) have been purchased, from different generations, including Joan Brossa, Susana Solano, Eugenia Balcells, Josep Royo, Josep Ponsatí, Eulàlia Grau, Ignasi Aballí, Pereja, and Recarenos. Among the youngest are David Bestué, Carlos Casas, Patricia Dauder, Dionisio Escorsa, Daniel Steegmann Magrané, Stella Rahola Matutes, Gerard Ortín, and Mònica Rikić. On the other hand, in the post-war and second avant-garde movement, the Generalitat has purchased works by around twenty artists, including Joan Furriols, Alfonso Borrell, Esther Boix, Isabel Garriga, Joan Rabascall, Josefa Toldrà, Josep Guinovart, Josep M. Subirachs and Mari Chordà.
Comic and illustration purchases
In the line of comic and illustration acquisitions, among others, the following have been purchased: Stories from Sitges. Men in the Sun (2000), by Sebastià Martín; Amparo Torrego Dossier (1977), by Marika Villa; the print publication Shepherdess (2015), by Miquel Bustos, and different works by Martín Vitaliti, among them Diana's two handkerchiefs (2017). This year, the publication of a publication on the history of comics and illustration in Catalonia has also begun, to disseminate it among the public.
And in the field of photography, some of the most notable purchases correspond to a selection of ten photographs by Ramon Masats, the documentary photographs of the Lleida territory by Lleonard Delshams (1982-2019), the series The Salazars: A Story of Gypsy Women (2001-2007), by Adriana Sanfeliu López, and a selection of photographs from the 70s and 80s by reporter Anna Turbau.
