MUSEU NACIONAL D’ART DE CATALUNYA

Description

Essentials about the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in brief

For art lovers, especially medieval art, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) is definitely worth a visit. The museum is best known for its large collection of Romanesque and Gothic art, as well as Catalan art.

The building of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is housed in the Palau Nacional, the former Spanish pavilion of the 1929 World’s Fair, at the foot of Montjuïc. The palace, huge with an interior area of 50,000 square meters, was built in the Italian neo-baroque style. As you can easily see, its dome is inspired by that of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. From 1990, the building was gradually renovated and remodeled to house the merged collections of the Museu d’Art de Catalunya (Romantic, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque) and the Museu d’Art Modern (19th and 20th century art). In 2004, the new Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) finally opened its doors.

The collections of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

The Romanesque Collection

The Romanesque collection of the MNAC is considered one of the most extensive in the world. The foundation is formed by the unique department of Romanesque frescoes in scale architectural settings. The 12th- and 13th-century wall paintings, some of which are large in scale, were removed from small churches in the Pyrenees in the 1920s and preserved, thus surviving the Spanish Civil War without damage. In addition, the collection includes numerous panel paintings and wooden sculptures.

The Gothic Art Collection

The second large section of the MNAC is the collection of Gothic art, with a focus on Catalan panel painting and sculpture. It includes numerous works by the masters of the time, Bernat Martorell, Jaume Huguet and Lluís Dalmau.

The Baroque and Renaissance Collection

As a result of Catalonia’s relative insignificance at the time, the Baroque and Renaissance art collection is not of the same quality as that of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, the museum has some outstanding works from the 16th to 18th centuries – if not from Catalonia, then by Italian, Dutch and Spanish masters.

The Modern Art Collection

The Modern Art Collection brings together the most important works of Catalan art of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. The succession of different currents in this period is seamlessly presented, from neoclassicism to realism, modernism, noucentisme and avant-garde.

Other Departments

The MNAC’s art collections are complemented by departments of numismatics and copperplate engravings, as well as the Biblioteca General de Historia del Arte. In 1996, a department dedicated to photography was added. In addition to permanent exhibitions, the MNAC also has spaces for temporary traveling exhibitions. The museum also supports the restoration and conservation of art.