MNAC will discover the figurative work of Suzanne Valadon

The National Art Museum of Catalonia, MNAC, is dedicating 2024 to restoring forgotten figures such as Evely Torrent and Adolphe Fargnoli, incorporating the works of ceramicist Josep Llorens Artigas into its rooms. In addition, it maintains the space of comedy through the works of Jordi Lungarón and Friday Foster.

It also continues to bet on cooperation with other institutions on the national and international scene. Therefore, from February 22, you can visit The Lost Mirror exhibition. Jews and Converts in the Middle Ages, co-produced with the Prado Museum, which presents the image of Jews and converts perceived by Christians in Spain between 1285 and 1492, notes how the visual stigmatization of Jews was a faithful reflection of the Christian mirror, of their beliefs and fears, a powerful tool for asserting identity. The exhibition will bring together works from around thirty museums, libraries, churches, archives and private collections by Gothic artists such as Pedro Peruguetti, Bartolome Bermejo, Fernando Gallego and Bernat Martorell.

“Modern epic”

Also, in collaboration with the Center Pompidou Metz and the Museum of Arts of Nantes, MNAC will present Suzanne Valadon. Modern epic from April 18. Born Marie Clémentine Valadon (1865-1938), the French painter Suzanne Valadon was a painter, illustrator, and printmaker. He excelled at painting portraits and still lifes, with a particular interest in nude women and odalisques. The exhibition will include 112 works.

Four major projects

Also this year, four major museum projects will be opened, which MNAC accompanies in the process. These are the Baroque Museum of Catalonia – in the historic center of Manresa -, the Granollers Museum, the Moreira Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Lleida, in addition to the Palau Requisense in Molins de Re, where the Renaissance Museum is located.

MNAC director for a decade, Pepe Serra, emphasized at the season's presentation the stability the museum has achieved in recent years. Regarding future projects, such as the expansion of the museum, he did not provide much information or dates, except for “the extreme complexity of the new museum project and the urban improvements associated with Montjuïc that affect it. We will have news in 2024, because the process has been accelerated,” he said.

It is currently in the negotiation phase, conducting impact and feasibility studies, as it seeks to benefit from the urban improvements that will take place in Fira de Barcelona, ​​and therefore in Montjuïc, which directly affect two pavilions that belong to the National Museum.

Regarding programming for the centenary of the 1929 Universal Exposition, Serra admitted that he still did not know “anything about what will be done.”