The collection

In the late sixties, Sílvia Gubern was one of the pioneers of conceptual art in Catalonia, alongside artists such as Jordi Galí, Antoni Llena and Àngel Jové, with whom she formed an active group in the surroundings of park Jardí del Maduixer, where they exhibited their actions and poor and ephemeral works. Linked to La Gauche Divine, in the seventies Gubern consolidated her unique and personal language, expressing herself through a wide range of techniques. She created works using painting on glass and drawing, but also using canvas and scultpures, all the while maintaining mystical poetry as her source of primordial inspiration. She exhibited frequently at the Sala Vinçon and an extensive anthological exhibition was dedicated to her at the Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica in 1995.

Self-taught painter, draughtsman and print maker, Guerrero Medina tends towards neo-figuration that is expressionistic in tone. His output concentrates on landscapes and the human figure with the aim of transmitting mood by way of colour and the rejection of conventional form. His production of figures revealing the fragile interior world of his characters often verges on social criticism with the depiction of tragic episodes from history, such as the Republican exile to France, and the effect they have on the people involved.  This type of work is produced alongside others of interest to the artist, such as the reinterpretation of old masters like Velázquez, and the treatment of landscape from a emotional, rather than realist, angle.  

When he completed his training at La Llotja, Ramon Guillen-Balmes began researching the sculptural language by assembling different materials. In his projects he plays with notions of desire, automatism and the anatomic forms of our body. Dadaist influences are key to conceptually understand his artwork and he often used objets trouvés, a concept that refers to art made by using decontextualized everyday objects. He taught at Escola Massana until his premature death at the age of 47. In 2012, the school dedicated a retrospective exhibition to commemorate the artist’s career.