The Cloister, 40 years persevering in the diffusion of art

The gallery, which opened in 1983 on Carrer Nou promoted by Núria Yglesias and Miquel Mascort, is now in its forties

Marià Mascort, son of the founders, is the current director. But the pioneering role of the Maskort marriage must be claimed. Núria Yglesias, who played a fundamental role for her love of art following a family tradition, died just over three years ago. Miquel Mascort, son of the sports reporter Ernest Mascort, has received numerous recognitions for his work. A well-known man in Girona, where he served as a judge, in 2002 he received the Cross of Sant Jordi from President Pujol for his work in defense of the language, for his help in various charitable initiatives and for his contribution to the world of sport In fact, he was president of Girona in 1992 and 1993.

El Claustre celebrated its fortieth anniversary yesterday. In fact, it is already traditional that every five years he does so and publishes a commemorative book. The Cloister was an idea of the couple formed by Miquel Mascort and Núria Yglesias, who in 1983 decided to go ahead with it in Carrer Nou in Girona, in the premises that housed medieval remains and the cloister of the old convent of Sant Francesc d Assisi, which gave its name to the gallery. The Mascorts have always said that they opened with more excitement than a business perspective, but the gallery has consolidated and reaches its fortieth anniversary in good health. There was no great tradition of gallerists in this city, which began to experience a great change in 1983, because for many reasons the gaze of the art collectors, who did exist, was always directed to the big city, Barcelona, or others with more tradition and their own pictorial school, such as Olot. And it's not that there weren't gallery owners. The Mascort family itself gives the fact that in the 40 years of their gallery's existence, 41 have closed in Girona, including those that were already there when they opened and those that have had a much shorter life. Yesterday the deputy mayor Gemma Geis was present; the president of the Provincial Council, Miquel Noguer; Laia Cañigueral, delegate of the Generalitat in Girona, the deputy mayor and councilor for Culture, Quim Ayats, and the president of the College of Journalists of Catalonia in Girona, were some of the authorities who attended.

Over the years El Claustre changed its location but not the street and continues on Calle Nou with large exhibition rooms and also space for its important art collection. And since 1999 El Claustre has also been present in Figueres, on Carrer Sant Pau first and for ten years on Rambla de Figueres.

Persistence is key in a business like this. El Claustre has been able to combine in its exhibitions the work of safe values, great names in painting, with the incorporation of new talent. It maintains an art fund with works by Tharrats, Pitxot, Pujolboira, Lluís Roura, Huedo, Vayreda and many other names. And he has committed to new values in a balance that allows him to face the decade that will bring them to their fiftieth anniversary with solidity. The bet that everyone can access art through free financing of the works has been a key policy, with a large number of partners that are one of the bases of the business.

El Claustre has been able to read the signs of the times and the changes that the sector has experienced and has done so due to its proximity to customers, Girona, Catalans and also from outside the country, in an intelligent balance between the safe work of established painters and the search for new talent, some of whom have already established themselves as first-rate authors. Great work for El Claustre and for many years to come.