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Víctor Balaguer Museum and Library

19th-century painting and sculpture collection

Appearance of the Art Gallery at the end of the 19th century.

Appearance of the Art Gallery at the end of the 19th century.

The Art Gallery houses most of the initial painting collection, with works that Víctor Balaguer himself gathered during his lifetime  and others from the many donations he received from contemporary artists. 

Prominent among the artists represented are Marià Fortuny, Ramon Martí Alsina, Joaquin Sorolla, Ramon Casas and Santiago Rusiñol. The major genres exhibited are landscapes, portraits and genre painting, which reflect bourgeois tastes of the time. 

The most significant artistic styles of the moment are also represented:

  • Romanticism, which marked the first break away from the prevailing academic painting and emerged in Catalonia alongside political liberalism in the mid-19th century.
  • Realism, which appeared as a counterpoint to the idealism characteristic of Romanticism and which developed in Catalonia during the third quarter of the 19th century. This was also the time of plein air painting and painting from nature, which fostered the appearance of tubes of oil paint. Catalan landscape painting acquired great importance.
  • Symbolism, which marked Catalonia’s first step towards Modernisme. The Symbolists, who championed poetic imagination and spiritual enlightenment, sought inspiration in literary, mythological or historical motifs, often with woman in the leading role.

OBJECTS

<p><em>Beauty Overcoming Force</em>, Venanci Vallmitjana, 1886. Plaster, 186&times;79&times;125 cm.&nbsp;V&iacute;ctor Balaguer Museum and Library.</p>

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Beauty Overcoming Force
Beauty Overcoming Force
<p><em>Stormy Sea</em>, Ramon Mart&iacute; Alsina, between 1875 and 1884. Oil on canvas, 137&times;239 cm.&nbsp;V&iacute;ctor Balaguer Museum and Library.</p>

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Stormy Sea
Stormy Sea
<p><em>Rainy Afternoon</em>, also called&nbsp;<em>The Garden Porch</em>, Santiago Rusi&ntilde;ol, 1889. Oil on canvas, 124x68.5 cm.&nbsp;V&iacute;ctor Balaguer Museum and Library.</p>

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Rainy Afternoon
Rainy Afternoon
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