If until now we were in third, now we are in fifth and very soon we will have skidding problems. Everything is speeding up a lot”, explains Pepe Serra graphically, regarding the project of the new National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), which will culminate in 2029 with the extension to the Victòria Eugènia pavilion. But beyond this future in which it will become a key piece of the great urbanization of Montjuïc, the present of the museum is getting closer and closer to the idea it had when it assumed the position in 2012. “After so many years results are starting to be noticed and this year’s program I won’t say is a culmination, because change is permanent, but it does consolidate our work model”, adds Serra.
An exceptional season, due to the attractiveness and relevance of exhibitions ranging from The Lost Mirror, a show about Jews and converts in the Middle Ages that reveals how the image of otherness is constructed, in the Spanish landing by Suzanne Valadon, a fascinating artist who was linked to Miquel Utrillo (she lent her surname to the painter’s son, Maurice, also a painter, who ended up overshadowing her) and who, despite her recognition in France, remains a unknown Two important exhibitions that have been co-produced with partners such as the Prado Museum and the Pompidou in Metz and the Nantes Art Museum, respectively, and which place it in the league of the great international museums.
Serra, who in one of his first public statements expressed to La Vanguardia the desire for life to enter the MNAC, notes with pride that today it is already “a museum where artists live and work”. A historical museum where contemporary creators “enter and walk around, transit in a natural way and are, in fact, the ones who help us most to interpret the collections”. Mostly women (Julia Coelho, Mar Arza, Raquel Friera, Núria Güell or Nadia Hadi), with the exception of the Chilean resident in Barcelona Fernando Prats, who will develop different projects around the works held by the museum. The latter, with a proposal curated by Gloria Moure, will intervene in the Romanesque, its most emblematic collection, which will be enriched with a new space dedicated to the Master of Cabestany thanks to the incorporation of four sculptural fragments from the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, acquired by the Generalitat.
After the fabulous Which humanity? with which he said goodbye to the year, the new program starts with The Lost Mirror. Jews and converts in the Middle Ages, which was already seen at the Prado and which arrives in Barcelona next week (from February 22 to May 26) with a new staging that accentuates the drama and is enriched by so much so that it is inserted within the scope of Gothic. Suzanne Valadon will follow her chronologically. A modern epic (from April 18 to September 1), whose curator will be Eduard Vallès, the new head of Collections. Once again, he will come to the rescue of lost figures in the history of art, in this case the painter and sculptor Eveli Torent (Badalona, ??1976-Barcelona, ??1940), who was linked to the environment of Els Quatre Gats .
Longarón and Friday Foste r, the unexpected heroine (from March 20 to June 24), dedicated to Jordi Longarón, a Catalan cartoonist who in 1970 was hired by The Chicago Tribune Syndicate for a weekly strip that broke taboos (in states like Florida it was banned) because it starred an African-American detective photographer. A noucentist from Girona fascinated by Hollywood aesthetics, Adolf Fargnoli, will arrive in May (until September 15), with curator Pilar Vélez.
The MNAC has also made a giant leap in its function as a head museum (it has made 232 loans to 24 Catalan museums and has 465 works on deposit in another) and its social connection. “There is a huge difference between this museum and the one we had. It’s another museum”, says the director, despite the fact that its allocation (20 million, 1.3 more than the previous one if the budgets of the Generalitat are approved) still does not reach that of 2008 (21 million), although “everything costs 1,000% more”.
Serra takes a breath before answering for the umpteenth time about Manuel Borja-Villel’s participation in the future MNAC. “There is no subject. The relationship is very good, but the project is made and led from here, and in collaboration with international colleagues, gallerists, artists, collectors, local museums or neighborhood communities. Manolo is an advisor to the Generalitat, he does not work at the MNAC or for the MNAC. He works on topics that interest him such as decolonization or the role of museums. If any of your thoughts interest us, we can take them into account.” It is certain, he says, that in the Victòria Eugènia pavilion there will be no exhibition curated by the former director of the Reina Sofia during Manifesta, as had been said.
