The Sala Parés is the oldest art gallery in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Initially an art store, established in 1840 by Joan Parés, it slowly evolved into a gallery and formally became one in 1877.

History

Founded by the original store owner's son, , an art collector, it became the primary artistic showcase for Barcelona during the "" (Gold Rush), a period of rapid economic growth for the Catalan bourgeoisie. The artists who got their start there at that time include

Modest Urgell Modest Urgell i Inglada, also known by the nickname Katúfol (13 June 1839, Barcelona - 3 April 1919, Barcelona) was a Spanish landscape painter and comic playwright. He used his nickname for cartoons and illustrations. Biography He was born to ...

, Romà Ribera, Josep and Francesc Masriera and Simó Gómez.Article
in the Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. In the early 1890s, it became the home base for a new generation of

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

painters such as

Santiago Rusiñol Santiago Rusiñol i Prats (, ; Barcelona 25 February 1861 – Aranjuez 13 June 1931) was a Spanish painter, poet, journalist, collector and playwright. He was one of the leaders of the Catalan ''modernisme'' movement. He created more than a ...

and

Ramon Casas Ramon Casas i Carbó (; 4 January 1866 – 29 February 1932) was a Catalan artist. Living through a turbulent time in the history of his native Barcelona, he was known as a portraitist, sketching and painting the intellectual, economic, and ...

. It also became the exhibit hall of choice for the

Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc The Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc (, meaning in English "Saint Lluc Artists' Circle") is an arts society which was founded in Barcelona (Catalonia) in 1893 by Joan Llimona, Josep Llimona, Antoni Utrillo, Alexandre de Riquer, the city councillo ...

. A decade later, it was home for the Post-Modernists; notably

Isidre Nonell Isidre Nonell i Monturiol (; es, Isidro Nonell y Monturiol; 30 November 1872 – 21 February 1911) was a Spanish artist known for his expressive portrayal of socially marginalized individuals in late 19th-century Barcelona. Life Isidre Non ...

Joaquim Mir Joaquin Mir Trinxet or Joaquin Mir y Trinxet (Catalan: ''Joaquim Mir i Trinxet'') (Barcelona 6 January 1873 – 8 April 1940) was a Catalan artist known for his use of color in his paintings. He lived through a turbulent time in the history o ...

and . Parés himself showed no particular inclination for any artistic style and was quite eclectic in his choice of works for display. This eventually led to a decline in favor of other galleries with more specific orientations, such as the Faianç Català, the Galeries Laietanes (both devoted to

Noucentisme Noucentisme in Catalonia (, ''noucentista'' being its adjective) was a Catalan cultural movement of the early 20th century that originated largely as a reaction against Modernisme, both in art and ideology, and was, simultaneously, a perception ...

) and the

Galeries Dalmau Galeries Dalmau was an art gallery in Barcelona, Spain, from 1906 to 1930 (also known as Sala Dalmau, Les Galeries Dalmau, Galería Dalmau, and Galeries J. Dalmau). The gallery was founded and managed by the Symbolist painter and restorer . Th ...

(

Avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

). In 1925, it was acquired by the art dealer, , youngest son of the poet

Joan Maragall Joan Maragall i Gorina (; 10 October 1860 in Barcelona – 20 December 1911) was a Spanish poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the ''modernisme'' movement in literature. His manuscripts are preserved in the Joan Maragall ...

. The gallery was completely redesigned and began to promote younger artists, including , ,

Manolo Hugué Manuel Martinez Hugué, better known simply as Manolo (29 April 1872 – 17 November 1945), was a Catalan Spanish sculptor in the noucentisme movement. Although a friend of Pablo Picasso, his style was much closer to that of Aristide Maillol. Bio ...

, and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

. Auctions were also established and it became a major supplier of older paintings for museums. After World War II, although the gallery maintained its connections to the avant-garde, it also began to focus more on

Postimpressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...

and other relatively conservative styles. A branch in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, known as the "Swan Gallery" is operated by Maragall's son.Pere Andreau Cullell Farràs, ''L'oasi català'', Planeta, 2001 In 2013, it was announced that a showroom would be opened in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Some of the artists represented were, Gabino Rey, , , and , among others.

References

External links

Sala Parés website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sala Pares 1877 establishments in Spain Art galleries established in 1877 Art museums and galleries in Spain Contemporary art galleries in Spain Buildings and structures in Barcelona Culture in Barcelona Tourist attractions in Barcelona

History

References

Further reading

External links