The MNAC frees Francesc Galí from the stereotype of being only Joan Miró's teacher.

BarcelonaIt is no exaggeration to say that Francesc Galí (Barcelona 1880-1965) risked his life to paint the murals on the dome of the National Palace coinciding with the Universal Exhibition of 1929. For about six months, Galí worked perched on rather precarious scaffolding and without protective measures, just as the Catalan Art Museum (MNAC) is dedicating to him from this Wednesday until September 14, entitled Francisco Galí. The invisible teacher.

While painting the murals, Galí suffered several "attacks of vertigo" that marked him for life, as art historian and curator of the exhibition, Albert Mercadé, recalls. Indeed, in one of the last works on the tour, Galí portrayed himself falling from a ladder, a reminder of the fear he had experienced decades earlier. Even so, climbing that scaffolding was only one of the first times Galí took risks, always thinking more about the common good than about himself: later, he was a key figure in the rescue of heritage during the Civil War as Director General of Fine Arts of the Republic.

More than an exhibition, Francisco Galí. The invisible teacher It's an act of justice, since since his death in the late 1960s, he had been forgotten, and was too often remembered as merely Joan Miró's teacher at the innovative art school he founded. "When he died, the exhibition dedicated to him by the COAC was on, and afterward, he became invisible," explains Mercadé, who is also the author of one of the two leading theses on Galí. The reasons for this are both personal and contextual. "He didn't care at all about his legacy, and for many years Noucentisme was out of fashion. Galí wasn't held in high regard as an artist. He was known for the posters he made for the 1929 Universal Exhibition, and he was often cited as the mentor of Miró and Artigas," explains the curator. "We also vindicate him as an artist. Galí was a tremendous creator, a tremendous draftsman, an excellent painter, a great poster artist. He also made textiles, prints, and murals; he was a very complete artist," emphasizes Mercadé.

The exhibition includes more than 100 works, including drawings, paintings, ceramics, textiles, and posters. There are also two digital installations that recreate Joan Miró's exercises in touch on display and the outings he and his students made in the Montseny. The tour is organized chronologically, and at the beginning, Mercadé points out that Galí was Pompeu Fabra's nephew, thanks to whom he received first-class training, and his little-known time at Els Quatre Gats. As can be seen as the exhibition progresses, Galí is an exceptional figure because he was active during the Modernisme, Noucentisme, and avant-garde movements, leaving his mark on all three periods. Among the most curious works in this initial section is a drawing of Saint George and the Princess with Symbolist roots, influenced by Alexandre de Riquer.

From our own school to the Higher School of Fine Arts

Francisco Galí founded the art school in 1902, when he was 22, and it marked the beginning of his fame. The method he applied was his own creation. "Cultural training was almost as important as learning to draw. Galí was a groundbreaking individual; he didn't go to European schools to learn how to teach, but rather invented a method and spread it, and it was very transformative," says the curator. Many of his students, beyond Joan Miró, were well-known: José Aragay, Rafael Solanic, Francisco Vayreda, Manuel Humbert, Rafael Benet, and Lola Anglada, among others. At that time, Galí's artistic output declined. "At school, he began to look back at the imagery of the popular arts found in ceramics and, above all, in Baroque prints. In other words, he didn't go so much to classical Greece and Rome, but rather to the 17th century," says Mercadé. "He wanted his students to create images and symbols that would bring them into the noucentista style."

Galí later closed the school when he took over as director of the Escuela Superior de los Bellos Oficios in the early 1920s, where he promoted the recovery of traditional techniques and imagery. However, the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera interrupted that project, and Galí resumed his production. Among the exhibits on display are a series of posters and two Mediterraneanist female knots, one of which has since been retained by the Museo Reina Sofía. The exhibition addresses the impact that the Civil War had on Galí's life, focusing on his exile and the relationship he had in London with the surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun, which serves as a link to the complementary exhibition that the Museo Memorial del Exilio dedicates to Galí.

The fascist paintings on the dome of the National Palace

As a Catalanist and committed man, Galí had to take on the challenge of moving forward while creating under a dictatorship. The exhibition concludes with the mural paintings he created in the dome of the MNAC itself. Lluís Plandiura commissioned him to represent the apotheosis of Spain, and he distanced himself, as Mercadé says, by depicting "Spanish culture from a humanistic perspective." Therefore, he divided the complex into four areas, dedicated to the fine arts, science, work, and religion, respectively.

To bring this work into the 21st century, the museum commissioned architects Anna and Eugeni Bach to create a suspended installation beneath the dome reminiscent of the crown of eyes Galí spoke of to his students. An audiovisual presentation featuring various cultural figures can also be seen, including philosopher Ingrid Guardiola, sociologist Miquel Missé, and Eudald Carbonell, co-director of the Atapuerca site. These contributions reflect the critical review of the institution that the museum teams are conducting in preparation for the museum's future expansion at the Victoria Eugenia Palace.