The exhibition "Sorolla. Hunting Impressions" marks the beginning of Palau Martorell

On December 20, Sorolla was presented. Caçant Impressions, the exhibition that marks the beginning of a new permanent exhibition space in the city of Barcelona and that will have a regular program, which will offer great exhibitions from international collections. It will also host family activities, as well as a line dedicated to the screening of contemporary artists and an attractive conference program.

Palau Martorell is a private initiative project directed by Jesús Rodríguez and José Félix Bentz, both cultural managers with a wide and important career. "Palau Martorell is a multipurpose space born with the vocation to complement the rich cultural fabric that already exists in Barcelona and to become a real cultural engine. For us, Palau Martorell is a city project", affirm Rodríguez and Bentz. And they add: "We want to bring to Barcelona important samples of great masters such as Chagall, Alphonse Mucha, Calder, Basquiat or Tamara de Lempicka, among other great exhibitions".

Palau Martorell

Palau Martorell is the neoclassical building that housed the Antiga Societat del Crèdit Mercantil, located at Carrer Ample, number 11, and was built between 1886 and 1900, under the direction of the architect Joan Martorell i Montells. The property stands out for its large proportions, its symmetry and the distribution of the decorative elements in the central body of the main facade.

Located in front of Plaça de la Mercè, the building offers fantastic views of the Basilica de la Mare de Déu de la Mercè. The structure of the palace, with a rectangular plan, consists of a semi-basement, ground floor, two floors, attic and roof.

The protagonist of the ground floor is, without a doubt, a large skylight with a spectacular stained glass window held up from two floors above, which brings natural light to the entire space, accompanied by an ornamentation formed by Doric columns. The main floor, the only one with access to the balcony, houses a magnificent rectangular space that stands out for its frescoes on the ceiling and the laborious coffered ceiling that majestically dresses the entire room.

noise Hunting Impressions

The first major show chosen to open the Palau Martorell program is Sorolla. Hunting for impressions, curated by Blanca Pons-Sorolla, great-granddaughter of the Valencian artist and expert in his work, and María López from the Sorolla Museum. A unique exhibition, never seen before in Barcelona, which can be visited from December 21 to March 5, 2023.

The exhibition, organized by the Palau Martorell in collaboration with the Sorolla Museum and the Sorolla Museum Foundation, consists of a total of 193 small format oils on board, cardboard or other materials belonging to the Sorolla Museum collection.

Throughout his life, Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923) managed to paint nearly two thousand oils on cardboard or small tablets. He called them "annotations", "spots", or "color notes". This format was increasingly used throughout the 19th century by the great artists, because it allowed them to quickly collect ideas or impressions of things seen that went beyond a simple sketch. At first they were considered intimate works, unfinished products of the painter's work, but soon his creative freedom was appreciated in them and they began to be exhibited and quoted as samples of the most personal and original of the artist Sorolla sometimes used them to rehearse compositions, but often as a simple exercise. He kept them in his studio, held with pins covering entire walls with them, but he soon began to frame them, and in all his exhibitions these squares had an abundant and prominent presence.