The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is housed in one of Barcelona’s most important modernista landmarks, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and showcases one of the largest collections of art works by the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies.
, a publishing company owned by the family of Domènech i Montaner’s mother, which currently houses the was built by Domènech i Montaner himself from 1880 to 1882.
This is one of the pioneering examples of the architectural and urban renovation that was introduced by the Modernista movement, together with Gaudí’s Casa Vicens.
The building features a very unacademic façade with a slightly Mudejar (Moorish) appearance, a system of skylights that provides very diffuse top lighting, and a peculiar structure with cast iron pillars and steel beams that is more characteristic of markets and railway stations of the of the late 19th century.
The building is now crowned by a sculptural work by the great contemporary artist Antoni Tàpies, Núvol i cadira (Cloud and Chair), which has become the emblem of his foundation.
The museum exhibits a wide selection of the work of this Catalan artist and holds temporary exhibitions, symposia, conferences and film cycles. It also houses a library specialised in modern and contemporary art, the Tàpies archive with the largest collection of his works and related documents, and collections on Asian and Pre-Columbine arts and culture.
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| Els Solcs (1952) - The Furrows |
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| Zoom 1946, Oil on canvas |
(...) As in all primitivism, what is expressed in Zoom is a rejection of modern civilization. The work reveals the desire to return to a pre-industrial world, in which one assumes that there is a more intimate relationship with nature. What seems to be a human face is turned upside-down, and from it radiates a series of beams of light. In this way matter and form appear to meld into a single continuum.
The face is dehumanised and acquires the form of an astral being that seems to be prior not only to industrial civilisation but also to the existence of any organised life on earth. (...) In this sense, as well as in that of the simultaneous use of two modes of representation - the iconic (face) and the index (handprints) - and the use of materials, this work is a direct forerunner of his matter paintings. (...)
Extracts from Manuel J. Borja-Villel, "The Collection", Fundació Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona: Fundació Antoni Tàpies, 1990)
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