The Catalan art on display in this section, which also includes some Spanish work (Sorolla) and international pieces (Laurencin, Sacharoff and Foujita), runs parallel to the evolution of painting and sculpture in European art, starting in the early 19th century and continuing well into the 20th century.
What we know as "easel painting" reflects the taste of an eclectic bourgeoisie who wanted to decorate their houses and palaces with evocative portraits and paintings, which today give us a glimpse of the aesthetic and social interests of the artists and their patrons. They form the basis of landscape paintings and portraits, and show how modern these artists were.
From Romanticism, a trend that revolutionised thinking in every field and opened doors to a way of seeing art that was more closely linked to nature and personal experience (J. Masriera and Serra), more realistic paintings directing attention to everyday life (Martí Alsina and F. Masriera) or capturing natural light (Roig Soler and Guillen Roca, from the Empordà). This leads us to 20th century modernism with Blay, Nonell, Canals, Casas, Casanovas and Gargallo, and the return to the landscapes of Gimeno, Mir and Amat.
The works on display in these rooms come from donations from Concepció Santaló, Victor Rahola, Alfons Moncanut, M. Mercè Viñas, Anna M. Dalí, Abelard Fàbrega and Eulàlia Mestres.