Catalan art

Last updated
Pantocrator of Sant Climent de Taull, MNAC Meister aus Tahull 001.jpg
Pantocrator of Sant Climent de Taüll, MNAC

The Catalan art is the artistic production made in what is now Catalonia along the time. It has a parallel evolution to the rest of European art, following in a diverse way the multiple tendencies that have taken place in the context of the history of Western art. Throughout history, Catalonia has seen diverse cultures and civilizations that contributed their concept of art and have left their legacy. Each historical period has specific and definable characteristics, common to other lands and cultures, or unique and differentiated, which evolved over time.

Contents

History

Ancient and Medieval

Catalan art is the result of the diverse social and cultural amalgam brought about by the diverse peoples that inhabited its territory: the first prehistoric settlers were succeeded by various peoples, such as Iberians who arrived during the Bronze and Iron Ages; these later convisquered with the first colonizers from the Mediterranean civilizations, the Greeks; then the Romans arrived, who disseminated their art and architecture throughout the territory. After its fall, Catalonia was part of the Visigothic kingdom, and later it received the Islamic occupation, which architecture is today visible in places of the half south of the territory. The Middle Ages will be the beginning of Catalan culture as a defined entity, with its own language, descent of Latin, and the formation of the Principality of Catalonia. It was a time of splendor for Catalan art, and the Romanesque and the Gothic will be very fruitful periods for the artistic development of the Principality.

Early Modern

During the early modern age, with Spain taking control of Catalonia and the succession of various economic crises, Catalan art declined, and Renaissance and Baroque styles were not particularly noteworthy in the history of Catalan art. Nevertheless, there were some centres of artistic importance such as the Carthusian monastery of Scala Dei which employed both talented monks as well as lay friars such as friar Lluís Pascal, friar Ramón Berenguer and Joaquim Juncosa. The later became one of the most famous painters of Catalan Baroque. Juncosa painted several portraits and frescoes at the monastery, unfortunately all of them were lost in the following events. [1]

Since the nineteenth century, with the economic and cultural revitalization, the art flourished again; and Modernisme (related to European Art Nouveau) became one of the most splendid periods of Catalan art, given to the world many important figures such as Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Muntaner or Ramon Casas, among others. The twentieth century brought the updating of the different styles produced by Catalan artists, which connect with international trends, offering even leading figures worldwide such as Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Albert Ràfols-Casamada, Joaquim Chancho and Yago Hortal.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalonia</span> Autonomous community and nationality in northeastern Spain

Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory lies on the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, to the south of the Pyrenees mountain range. Catalonia is administratively divided into four provinces or eight regions, which are in turn divided into 42 comarques. The capital and largest city, Barcelona, is the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the fifth-most populous urban area in the European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Catalonia</span>

The recorded history of the lands of what today is known as Catalonia begins with the development of the Iberian peoples while several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered northern half of the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule historiographically known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.

<i>Modernisme</i> Architectural and artistic movement originating in Catalonia, Spain

Modernisme, also known as Catalan modernism and Catalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan culture, one of the most predominant cultures within Spain. Nowadays, it is considered a movement based on the cultural revindication of a Catalan identity. Its main form of expression was Modernista architecture, but it also encompassed many other arts, such as painting and sculpture, and especially the design and the decorative arts, which were particularly important, especially in their role as support to architecture. Modernisme was also a literary movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan Countries</span> Regions where Catalan is the native language

The Catalan Countries are those territories where the Catalan language is spoken. They include the Spanish regions of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, and parts of Aragon and Murcia (Carche), as well as the Principality of Andorra, the department of Pyrénées-Orientales in France, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia (Italy). It is often used as a sociolinguistic term to describe the cultural-linguistic area where Catalan is spoken. In the context of Catalan nationalism, the term is sometimes used in a more restricted way to refer to just Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Catalan Countries do not correspond to any present or past political or administrative unit, though most of the area belonged to the Crown of Aragon in the Middle Ages. Parts of Valencia (Spanish) and Catalonia (Occitan) are not Catalan-speaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lluís Domènech i Montaner</span> Catalan architect (1850–1923)

Lluís Domènech i Montaner was a Catalan architect who was very much involved in and influential for the Catalan Modernisme català, the Art Nouveau/Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre Deulofeu</span>

Alexandre Deulofeu i Torres was a Catalan politician and philosopher of history. He wrote about what he called the Mathematics of History, a cyclical theory on the evolution of civilizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Principality of Catalonia</span> Principality in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula between the 12th century and 1714

The Principality of Catalonia was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The term Principality of Catalonia was official until the 1830s, when the Spanish government implemented the centralized provincial division, but remained in popular and informal contexts. Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya</span> Art museum in Palau Nacional, Barcelona

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Pl Espanya, the museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings, and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929. The Palau Nacional, which has housed the Museu d'Art de Catalunya since 1934, was declared a national museum in 1990 under the Museums Law passed by the Catalan Government. That same year, a thorough renovation process was launched to refurbish the site, based on plans drawn up by the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegmann, who were later joined in the undertaking by Josep Benedito. The Oval Hall was reopened for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, and the various collections were installed and opened over the period from 1995 to 2004. The museum was officially inaugurated on 16 December 2004. It is one of the largest museums in Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornudella de Montsant</span> Municipality in Catalonia, Spain

Cornudella de Montsant is a municipality in the comarca of the Priorat in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the north-west of the comarca below the Montsant range and the Prades Mountains. The Siurana reservoir is on the territory of the municipality and supplies its drinking water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Catalan sentiment</span> Feeling or expression of hate towards Catalan people

Anti-Catalan sentiment is the collective name given to various trends in Spain, France and Italy that expresses disdain, discrimination, or hatred for Catalonia, to Catalans, Catalan culture, Catalan language or its history. It can also be referred to as Anti-Catalanism or Catalanophobia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Barcelona</span> Overview of the culture of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)

Barcelona'sculture stems from the city's 2000 years of history. Barcelona has historically been a cultural center of reference in the world. To a greater extent than the rest of Catalonia, where Catalonia's native language Catalan is more dominant, Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both official and widely spoken. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan culture has experienced a rebirth, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is an international hub of highly active and diverse cultural life with theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums, and high-value architectural heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey</span> Abbey in Catalonia, Spain

Santa Maria de Montserrat is an abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict located on the mountain of Montserrat in Monistrol de Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain. It is notable for enshrining the image of the Virgin of Montserrat. The monastery was founded in 1025 and rebuilt between the 19th and 20th centuries. With a community of around 70 monks, the abbey is still in use to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roca dels Moros</span> Cave and archaeological site in Spain

The Roca dels Moros or Caves of El Cogul is a rock shelter containing paintings of prehistoric Levantine rock art and Iberian schematic art. The site is in El Cogul, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Since 1998 the paintings have been protected as part of the Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inscriptions in Northeastern Iberian script and in Latin alphabet indicate that the place was used as a sanctuary into Iberian and Roman times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Prats</span> Catalan art promoter

Joan Prats was a Catalan art promoter and a close friend of Joan Miró.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monestir de Sant Llorenç de Morunys</span>

Sant Llorenç de Morunys is a Benedictine monastery in Sant Llorenç de Morunys Province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It was declared a ‘Historic and Artistic Monument‘ in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Barcelona</span>

The architecture of Barcelona has undergone a parallel evolution alongside Catalan and Spanish architecture, reflecting the diverse trends found in the history of Western architecture. Throughout its historical development, Barcelona has been influenced by numerous cultures and civilizations, each contributing their artistic concepts and leaving a lasting legacy. The city's architectural heritage can be traced back to its earliest inhabitants, the Iberian settlers, followed by the Romans, Visigoths, and a brief Islamic period. In the Middle Ages, Catalan art, language, and culture flourished, with the Romanesque and Gothic periods particularly fostering artistic growth in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catalan Republic (1931)</span>

The Catalan Republic was a state proclaimed in 1931 by Francesc Macià as the "Catalan Republic within the Iberian Federation", in the context of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. It was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, and superseded three days later, on 17 April, by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalan institution of self-government within the Spanish Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francoist Catalonia</span> Aspect of modern Spanish history

Francoism in Catalonia was established within Francoist Spain between 1939 and 1975, following the Spanish Civil War and post-war Francoist repression. Francisco Franco's regime replaced Revolutionary Catalonia after the Catalonia Offensive at the end of the war. The dictatorship in Catalonia complemented the suppression of democratic freedoms with the repression of Catalan culture. Its totalitarian character and its unifying objectives meant the imposition of a single culture and a single language, Castillian. The regime was specifically anti-Catalan, but this did not stop the development of a Catalan Francoism that was forged during the war and fed by victory.

<i>La Veu de Catalunya</i>

La Veu de Catalunya was a Catalan newspaper founded by Enric Prat de la Riba that was published in Barcelona from 1 January 1899 to 8 January 1937, with two editions daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoixa d'Escaladei</span> Ruined Carthusian monastery, Spain

Cartoixa d'Escaladei, or Chapterhouse of Scala Dei, was a monastery of the Carthusian order in the southern Catalonia. It was founded in the 12th century, was an important centre for art in the 17th century and started the planting of vines in the region that became later known as Priorat due to the vineyards of the monks.

References

  1. Miralpeix Vilamala, Francesc. "Joaquim Juncosa Donadeu". Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved 26 November 2023.

Bibliography