Jaume Plensa in Montserrat

Jaume Plensa will install a sculpture in the atrium of Montserrat

Jaume Plensa will install a sculpture in the atrium of Montserrat

The sculptor Jaume Plensa will install next May a sculpture in the atrium of the basilica of Santa Maria de Montserrat and, at the same time, will inaugurate an exhibition in the Pere Pruna art space of the Montserrat Museum.

The director of the center, Father Josep de C. Laplana, explained to Efe that the sculpture, which represents the face of the daughter of a friend of his, will be placed when the pavement of the atrium is finished and will remain in that place six months. Subsequently, it will be decided if the work remains or changes its location.

The installation of this piece on the outside of the basilica will culminate the restoration of the atrium, where in recent months sculptured, sgraffito materials have been cleaned and the marble pavement has been repaired. Father Laplana has indicated: “Whether or not the work remains depends, first, on Jaume Plensa, and then on the community. It is a decision that should not be taken hastily. ”

The relationship between the Benedictine community and the sculptor arose as a result of the organization of some conferences, to which, finally, the artist could not attend because he was traveling, and then “there was talk that he could plant one of his sculptures for six months in Montserrat “. Regarding the exhibition, which can be visited until November, he said that he will have a selection of drawings and graphic work.

Born in Barcelona in 1955, Jaume Plensa is today one of the creators of monumental works more recognized in the world, although “before anything” is considered a sculptor. His references include literature, poetry, music or thought and his works have to do with the “physical and spiritual essence, conscience, moral codes or the relationship of being with nature.”

He exhibits regularly in galleries and museums in Europe, the United States and Asia, and a significant part of his work is exhibited in public spaces, with pieces permanently installed in cities in Spain, France, Japan, England, Korea, Germany, Canada, United States United or China.

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Modernism Museum Barcelona

The Museum of Modernism gathers the “Gardens of Spain” painted by Santiago Rusiñol

Brollador del Faune-Santiago Rusiñol-1902

The Museum of Modernism in Barcelona has gathered in an exhibition a wide selection of the “Gardens of Spain” painted by Santiago Rusiñol, and in which he expressed his “poetic vision” of the landscape modified by the human being, explained the curator Mercedes Palau-Ribes in a press conference.

The exhibition ‘Santiago Rusiñol. Jardines de España ‘, which can be visited from this thursday until July 9, exhibits 41 gardens painted in oil, of which 13 are the works originally included in the album with the same title.

The curator has meant that “most of these paintings have not been exposed for a century, and this spring they see the public light for the first time.” Rusiñol, who was not an exclusive painter of gardens, became a “European reference” in this area, for which he traveled to Granada to shape his gardens, which in 1896 exhibited in Paris under the title ‘Arab Gardens of Pomegranate’.

Three years later, the Catalan modernist painter inaugurated the series ‘Jardines de España’ with an exhibition of 32 works at the Art Nouveau Gallery in Paris, the most important in the french capital, the curator said. When he returned from Granada to paint gardens, he stopped in Madrid, where he also painted landscapes, and also in the town of Aranjuez, which treasured his favorite gardens, which can also be visited in the exhibition.

Rusiñol “always looked for the beauty of the garden”, and did not dedicate himself to literally copying these natural works modified by man, but he sought to capture his soul through the sieve of his emotions, he explained. In his paintings, there were no people, although you can see the “hand of man”, so there is a human component; In fact, the painter said that in his works he could talk about all the issues related to life and death.

The curator has put the ‘Flors blaves’ painting as an example by waiting for ‘symbolic elements’ in a path that starts with illuminated flowers and merges into a hedge and shade tree nature without flower. The exhibition, which has received loans from the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), Montserrat, banks and collectors, is celebrated coinciding with the seventh anniversary of the museum, and the presentation of new works of the collection permanent.

The tour includes four copies of different editions of Rusiñol’s ‘Jardins d’Espanya’ album, literary publications by the artist such as ‘Oracions’ and ‘El jardí abandonat’ and the camera Rusiñol used in his travels, and used to frame The landscapes that he painted outdoors to the natural.

It also shows correspondence between the artist and his contemporaries like Joan Alcover and Manuel de Falla; The score of the composer ‘Night in the Gardens of Spain’, accompanied by a portrait that Rusiñol made to his dear friend; Photo cards, post cards and press clippings.

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How Antonio Gaudi died?

The Catalan architect, key figure of modernism and one of the pioneers of the avant-garde of the twentieth century, is hit by a tram.Lying on the sidewalk, his unkempt appearance condemns him. He died three days later.

Antonio Gaudi picture

Barcelona, June 7, five past six p.m.. Antoni Gaudí i Cornet is about to cross the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes at the intersection between the streets Girona and Bailén. Leaning on his cane with rubber pad, delivered to their artistic dreams, cross the street slowly. A tram which runs from line 30 runs over him. The artist receives a terrible impact on the ribs and temple. Critically injured, he is lying on the ground unconscious.

His worn clothes, fastened with safety pins instead of buttons and dusty shoes that cover their wrapped in strips of cloth feet, give a poor appearance.

Most passersby, taking him for a beggar because of his unkempt appearance, denied their help. Only two of them are offered to assist him: Antonio Roig, managing the port, and Antonio Noria. They are trying unsuccessfully to arrest four taxis; the first three refuse to transport the wounded, fearful that the blood staining the upholstery of their vehicles. The fourth not even stop to see the body lying on the sidewalk.

Where he died Gaudí

A policeman approaches the tumult surrounding the artist and imposing his authority, requires a taxi to take him. To ensure that it will be properly cared for, he rises to the vehicle. The officer ordered the old man to move to the nearby dispensary Round San Pedro, 37.

The logbook will record center cursory examination of the wounded: ‘trauma at the height of the right ear and commotion of the patient, who calls himself Antonio Gaudi … It seems that the artist is appreciated regained lucidity for a brief moment, long enough to provide their identity, so far unknown data because the artist was undocumented. In their pockets not wearing more than the book of the Gospels, a rosary, a handkerchief and the little key from his desk.

The doctor on duty, to the serious condition of the injured, ordered his transfer to Hospital after administering a spasmodic.

Finally the fate wants Gaudí is transferred to the Hospital de la Santa Creu, but it’s too late. The next day is recognized by the chaplain of the Sagrada Familia, Mosen Gil Parés, good friend.

Gaudí died three days later, he has 73 years.

The coffin covers much of the city. The funeral procession is multitudinous, the chapel is visited by hundreds of locals. The turmoil generated is such that hardly contain urban agglomerations.

The authorities prohibit sending crowns, but this does not prevent the florists of the Rambla, the Boqueria vendors and neighbors throw flowers as the coffin.

The shops are closed and trams are forced to interrupt their journeys by the crowds that add to duel.

The revered architect is buried in the chapel of Carmen, in the first niche of the crypt of the Sagrada Familia, the only part of the temple which was built next to the Nativity facade.

Funeral ceremonies are officiated by the most prominent members of the clergy: Gil Pares, and the chaplain of the Güell family, Ricardo Persina.

Telegrams of condolence from King Alfonso XIII, the bishops of Mallorca and Avila and the mitred abbot of Montserrat, who granted indulgences to those who perform some act of piety in memory of the deceased are received.

The majestic burial bears witness to the prestige that the architect has acquired among his fellow citizens. Known as the hermit of the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí then is a very popular and much-admired character. A man who despite his haggard appearance has managed to earn the respect and affection of his fellow citizens.

His masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, called ‘the cathedral of the poor’, their only vital goal remains unfinished. Since 1915 he had given exclusively to erect forty years working feverishly in the atoning temple, begging to finance its construction even to sleep multiple times in a small cubicle on premises.

At his death, its construction is in the hands of architects and artists.

Antoni Gaudí, universal architect, fought for his ideals, died as a poor, was buried like a king and has passed into history as one of the cornerstones of modernism and one of the great masters of contemporary architecture.

His tombstone reads:

Antonio Gaudi i Cornet (A.C.S.)

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Medieval art at the MNAC Museum

Antonio Gallardo donation includes pieces of Romanesque art of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries from Catalonia and Castile and Leon

Medieval art at the MNAC Museum

The MNAC exhibits from today 20 masterpieces that the collector Antonio Gallardo Ballart has donated to the museum, including pieces of Romanesque art of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries from Catalonia and Castile and Leon; Gothic tables Serra, Lluís Borrassà or Bernat Martorell, as well as the Renaissance.

With this donation of medieval art, the main produced in European museums in the last 50 years of this type of work, according to the MNAC, the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) happens to have one of the best collections in the world Gothic and Romanesque art, as highlighted by its director, Pepe Serra, showing the works.

Serra explained that the works, “donated generously by Antonio Gallardo, who has found that the MNAC is a good destination” for them, chose the museum itself, which has made a selection of top quality parts first level .

Among the works that are incorporated into the museum’s collection there are also important pieces of key artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as Jaume and Pere Serra, Lluís Borrassà, Bernat Martorell, Pere Teixidor, Martín Bernat and Nicolás Francés.

The donation of Antonio Gallardo, one of the largest shareholders of laboratories Almirall, has been carried out following an agreement of the collector with the museum and the departments of Economics and Culture of the Generalitat, by which also the Catalan government has committed to accept the rest of the collection and payment of future taxes.

MNAC director remarked that he hoped this donation will serve as an example of a philanthropic action, which is not in the mentality of the Catalans, “because it is common to buy.”

After the donation, the works have become the property of the Government, which has joined the catalog of Catalan Cultural Heritage and has given the MNAC to be exposed.

Of the works that pass the museum include fragments of mural paintings from monuments of Catalonia and Castile, all dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, which represent a valuable complement MNAC collection.

Jordi Camps, curator and expert in medieval art, said that with this donation a set of spectacular works “or at best dreams we could imagine” is achieved.

For Camps, “it is as if there was a burst of Gothic and Romanesque art that can banish the idea that the Middle Ages was dark” because donating can see in color works so far only been seen in photographs in black and black in some books.

He also insisted that the value of the pieces complements and enriches what we already had the MNAC, and represent an important part names, typography, iconography and references of the museum lacked.

The core of the collection that the museum is reached Gothic painting and among the works that are incorporated there are names that were already well represented, as Bernat Martorell Serra or brothers, who have balanced what was already there.

The Commissioner has emphasized also in a table of Lluís Borrassà, which was represented succinctly in the museum, and the Gothic painting of Nicholas Francésc Miracle of Mount Gargano, who was the author of the altarpiece Gothic Cathedral of León, and it is part of a whole.

This painting, which comes from the church of San Miguel de Villalpando (Zamora), is part of a group that currently is dismembered and divided among several museums, such as Montserrat or the Cincinnati Museum of Art (USA).

On the origin of the collection from the museum management explained that Antonio Gallardo bought over the years with the help of an antiquarian who gave advice in choosing the works, and have stressed that there are very few collectors of this type of gear and leaving very little work of this kind for sale.

The tour of the exhibition is chronological and the walls have been painted blue to highlight the pieces, among which are The Virgin with Child and Angels Jaume Serra, unknown until 1990, or The Crucifixion of St. Peter, Pere Serra, the altarpiece of the church of Sant Pere de Cubells (Lleida).

The MNAC has also published a catalog with sheets of parts, which will also be the subject of a subsequent job search.

Paying taxes through works of art it is provided for in the tax law formula, which allows taxpayers to meet their tax debts through the delivery of artworks cataloged, or other goods registered cultural interest in the records.

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Winter season comes, to the Magic Fountains in Barcelona

The Magic fountains adapts to winter time and untill  March 27th will show Friday and Saturday from 19h to 21h

Montjuic- Magic Fountains-BARCELONA

The Magic Fountain and little fountains at Maria Cristina begin work this week in winter time. From October 30th until  March 27th-2016, the fountain offers the traditional choreography of light, color, music and water, Fridays and Saturdays between 19 pm and 21pm, with choreography start at 19h, 19: 30h, 20h and 20: 30h.

For the autumn – winter 2015-2016 Magic Fountain starts his shows with the legendary “Barcelona” starring Freddy Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, sound and choreography combine the great successes of the 2000s and this decade, remix classical, Spanish classical music, children’s music, selection of soundtracks for movies and traditional closure • show the Song of the flag. Also continue programming additions in recent seasons remix Catalan groups, the piece “City between two blue” Friends of the Arts released on the occasion of the World Swimming Championships and the Tricentenary of Music premiered on September 11 of last year.
Special program for the International Jazz Festival

Until 9th December , can continue to enjoy the jazz program built to mark the 47 Voll-Damm International Jazz Festival of Barcelona, ​​in sessions of 20 hours with approximately 20 minutes devoted to artists such illegal famous as Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.

2.5 million visitors each year

This emblematic installation of water the city receives around 2.5 million visitors a year and is an icon of the city recognized worldwide. It has a specific website, available in Catalan, Spanish and English, where you can view information such as the origins and history of the source, the trajectory and evolution since its opening in 1929, updated data on the operation, and schedules current information.

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Tandoor: Indian cuisine updated in Barcelona

Unlike Chinese or Japanese, Indian food is an unknown. Beyond basmati rice (sometimes precooked and boat), the popular kebab (the corner, although its origin is really Persian) or papadums beer snacks rescued Tandoor Cobracurry (powder), many would cost the ABC list culinary culture of this ancient cuisine. It has forgiveness. India is not the kitchen seated in Spain (or with much, the Japanese and Chinese will take years ahead). Still, there are examples of powerful Indian polished to wet papadums kilos of Barcelona restaurants. Indeed, the first Indian chef of Spain, Surinder Oberoi, settled here, worked the first Indian restaurant of Barcelona -Taj Mahal- and, years later, opened his own store: Tandoor. And of those pimples these muds: Tandoor moved a year of its location makes tiny right now in Calabria Aragon Street. Ivan expertise family Surinder and his mother-the smiling Poonam-, saved his paternal inheritance and -by the way-, this brave chef dusted and gave a wiggle. And it has caught while Tandoor is becoming one of the favorite restaurants for junkies chef Ivan Surinder curry.Tandoor

Tandoor-chef-Ivan-Surinder Barcelona

¿We said curry? This spice is an Indian flags but so are ginger, cumin, mustard, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon, chilies and cilantro. If something is Indian cuisine is famous for its infinite variety of spices and mixtures of these. The most famous is the garam masala (literally spice mixture), to which every housewife, chef gives his or kitchenettes. The aleatroriedad use and the fact that plat1sea Tandoor cuisine strongly supported in these family recipes is difficult to explain why the same two chickens eat curry. Creative licenses are almost endless.

Broadly speaking, southern regional cuisine is fish, more spicy curries and spicy dishes; in the north and more meat is cooked like dairy. Punjab province is one of the most gastronomically rich: there are both originating naan bread as the famous Tandoor oven that gives its name to the restaurant in question.

They are common use ghee (clarified butter) and coconut oil as the main fat bases. In the line following Surinder fats they have been reduced to a minimum to achieve as personal as elegant dishes.

His tandoor ovens let you bring the earthy flavors of yesterday and training Tickets do with the skill and precision of today. Tests are accurate pie filling vegetable potato (neo pump barcelonetera a spicy dish does not break the Tandoor architecture contrasts) and toast with pizza soul: smoked mashed eggplant, goat cheese and tomato pulp on a fine pita bread (pulp gives acidity, spice mixture of subtle spicy house, the smoky eggplant and some beads balsamic basil oil in the set). Satisfaction is high with the extrajugoso Thigh of chicken marinated in yogurt and ginger (Parental dish that Ivan has given the lightness that requires modern cuisine: less ghee and spices); and his signature dish of lamb: the nineteenth kebab. Minced meat and pressed into a cylinder to eat with your hands, mango and avocado on a lettuce leaf (sausage texture and smoothness on the palate thanks to Tandoor mango and avocado dish, sweet and sour sauce and spicy at the end stitch). The lamb is abundant in the north, in Kashmir where the climate is extreme. Some pieces are dried and then simple and inexpensive but tasty spicy dishes are prepared. The rogan josh lamb stew is a classic Kashmiri dishes.

While bringing the flavors to a new visual composure Tandoor cuisine is the northwest, which has captivated half the world with the flavors that we have more partners to country- cumin, coriander, curries, cúrcumas- that seasoned meats, cheeses and vegetables . The intense itching red and green peppers, a hallmark of much of the cuisine of southern India, they give prominence to balance the lightness and subtlety. It is in this line that Ivan moves but his grace is to soft stitches to sew ancient flavors in a dish and coordinated over them aesthetic neatness.

The latter come to the table as happen anywhere in India at a time and in a ceremonial way, everything draws a samskaara ritual. The palak paneer, the Jheenga goan and forced tikka masala. Their paneer (cottage cheese) is made with milk brought from Montserrat and -queda tikka clear- is one of the strongholds of the letter. Tandoor it also includes a good representation of the vegetarian delights of southern país.Tandoor palak paneer, tikka masala and goan Jheenga

They say necessity is the mother of this urgency and wit. Bravo for updating an ancient kitchen. Bravo for the courage to walk the difficult path between the new and the old, with one foot in the rich paternal inheritance and one on the wants of modern cuisine. Surinder behind the hand of a great chef with a juicy future. These lines do not know if I’m going to find anything new. I hope, although many discover an excellent restaurant. Indian, to be exact.

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Montserrat disclose their Mesopotamian treasures

For the first time, a book detailing the hundred most important pieces of the largest collection of Spain dedicated to the ancient civilizations of the Middle East

Montserrat disclose their Mesopotamian treasures

Coinciding with the difficult political, social and cultural moment living some countries now controlled by the Islamic State and that once formed part of the first great civilization in history, the Museum of Montserrat has decided to value its Mesopotamian background with publication of a catalog that, for the first time to the general public about the main parts of Spain’s largest collection of Mesopotamian antiquities.

And, in fact, few know that the Benedictine mountain treasures such volume of Mesopotamian art, some 1,200 pieces, of which correspond to a thousand cuneiform tablets. “There is in the mind as a collection Montserrat you were not cataloged,” explains Javier Uriach, editor of the Mesopotamian collection of the Museum of Montserrat presented today at the Palau Robert in Barcelona in the presence of Abbot Josep M. Soler.

The catalog has selected a hundred pieces, all brought here nearly a century ago by Father Ubach from the region lying between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. “At present, marked by strife and violence in the Middle East, take a relief and a significant historical importance descriptions and photographs that Father Ubach made in these countries he will soon hundred years when there was peace,” says Father Pius-Ramon Tragan, Scriptorium Biblicum et Orientale of Montserrat. “It should reflect on how, in the 20s of last century there were all kinds of cults in the area of ​​Iraq, and now because of religious intolerance is destroying a irrestituible testimony. Lucky parts of Montserrat are saved, as that are in museums around the world, “said Uriach.

The most relevant findings

The Cover

Among the pieces which includes the catalog, written by the specialist in Sumerian and Akkadian languages ​​and member of CSIC, Ignacio Marquez Rowe, include the weight of a talent as the father duck Ubach acquired in a village outside Baghdad and that the monk was the most valuable work of the Biblical Museum, which he founded to offer a historical and cultural Biblical scripture (embryo of the current montserratino museum) context. Only four similar pieces are known worldwide. “Father Ubach discovered on the door of a humble home, used as nerves,” explains Uriach.

Another relevant findings showing the catalog is a fragment of ‘kudurru’, a kind of monolith Babylonian kings placed inside temples. “It’s a symbolic piece, you can see, carved in elegant relief, symbols of gods or Papsukal Gula, goddess of medicine,” says the editor of the work.

Among the cuneiform tablets catalog collecting herbal notes on a piece of medical science or dedicated to astronomical knowledge, especially relevant in a culture that reached accurately predict celestial phenomena. And as a curiosity, the work also shows a tablet stored within its on clay, no doubt, the ancestor of our paper charts.

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