The Maricel Museum opens doors to Fortuny, Rodin, Matisse, Dalí and the masters of modern art

Marià Fortuny, Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Picasso, Francis Picabia, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró are some of the names present in the exhibition From Modernisme to the Avant-garde. Drawings from the Mapfre collections, which opened on March 28 at the Maricel Museum and which is a complete radiography of the drawing scene at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, through some of the most prestigious and famous artists. The exhibition is curated by Ignasi Domènech, head of the Sitges Museum Collections and is jointly organized by the Sitges Heritage Consortium and the Mapfre Foundation. It can be seen until June 23.

From Modernism to the Avant-garde. Drawings from the Mapfre collections, a careful selection of 47 drawings from Mapfre collections. It is a splendid exhibit of 33 key artists from the 19th and 20th century, such as Marià Fortuny, Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Joaquín Sorolla, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Francis Picabia, Paul Klee, Joaquín Torres García, Juan Gris, Joaquim Sunyer, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí. All the works are part of the Mapfre collection, created in 1997 and one of the most prestigious private collections in Spain. The exhibition is exhibited on the ground floor of the Maricel Museum, which until a few weeks ago hosted the Maricel Centennial exhibition.

From Modernism to the Avant-garde. Drawings from the Mapfre collections are shown for the first time in Catalonia, but before it was exhibited at various museums, such as the Picasso Foundation (Malaga, 2001), the Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba (Havana, 2004) , the Cervantes Institute in New York (2004-2005), the National Museum of Art of Mexico (2007) or the Bass Museum of Art in Miami (2008), among others.

Drawing as a genre in its own right

Drawing has been, from the origins of the history of mankind, one of the inherent expressions to individuals, although throughout recent history, art collecting has not shown great interest in drawing in comparison with the attention received by painting. Drawing has served as an element of learning and education of the technical and aesthetic capacities of the creators and very often reflect, like any other support, the creative genius of authors. Since the nineteenth century with the birth of the modern artist, voluntarily detached from the tyranny of the market, the drawing has passed the field of private experimentation or design element of future proposals to become an artistic genre in its own right

The tour of the exhibition From Modernism to the Avant-garde. Drawings of the Mapfre collections begin with academic drawings by two artists such as Marià Fortuny and Joaquín Sorolla (still linked to the tradition but which show expressive qualities that go beyond the classic drawing taught at the academies of fine arts). Below are noucentista drawings such as the ones by Joaquim Sunyer or Enric Casanovas, who communicate with others such as those of Francis Picabia, Auguste Rodin or Egon Schiele.

The construction of a language of an abstract nature, of a geometric and analytical nature on the horizon of Cubism, is reflected by works by Joaquim Torres García, Rafael Barradas, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes and Sonia Delaunay. The constructive sense of painting and its limits with sculpture can be seen in other drawings such as the collage of Alexander Archipenko or the Kurt Schwitters Miniature, with a Dadaist spirit. At the same time, there are works by Spanish artists working in Paris, such as Pablo Picasso or Juan Gris. The privileged presence of these artists in the French capital allowed them to come in contact with the gestation of the surrealist movement. Some of the authors present in the exhibit were active members of the group and essential figures of the movement, such as Salvador Dalí or Joan Miró.

The exhibition ends with the opening - after the Civil War - of new paths related to primitivism or pure forms such as those of Ángel Ferrant, who coexist with the beginnings of informalism as more gestural or material as is the case of the collage of Chillida that closes the exhibition.