The Sitges Museums review the artistic canon with new acquisitions that focus on more inclusive stories

The Sitges Museums are taking a decisive step towards more inclusive museums with the incorporation of a set of new works that question the traditional artistic canon and open the door to new readings of art history. The acquisitions, made in 2025 by the Sitges Heritage Consortium, focus on artists, trajectories and objects that until now had occupied a secondary place in the museum narrative.

From this February 26th until May 24th, the Rocamora Room of the Maricel Museum is hosting the first part of a small-format exhibition of these New Acquisitions for New Stories 2025, curated by art historian and art critic Elina Norandi.

Among the outstanding pieces are Informalista 2 (ca. 1960), by Amèlia Riera, a key work of Catalan informalism; the Portrait of Santiago Rusiñol (circa 1911–1912), by Valentín de Zubiaurre; The Bath (1934), by Mariano Andreu; Biblical Characters (1851), by Elisea Lluch, and the poster for the V International Art Exhibition (1907), by Joan Llimona. The set is completed with a set of dolls from the first third of the 20th century, from a recent private donation.

Far from being a sum of works, the acquisitions build a common story that directly challenges the historiography of art. As Elina Norandi’s exhibition text suggests, the dialogue between established figures and historically invisible artists shows the extent to which the criteria for selection and legitimization have changed. The presence of works signed by women alongside great male names becomes a declaration of principles on the transformative role of museums.

The new pieces are incorporated into the collections of the Maricel Museum, the Cau Ferrat Museum and the Can Llopis Romantic Museum, reinforcing a transversal reading of heritage and placing the Sitges Museums in the contemporary debate on the critical review of cultural narratives.