Antoni Vila Casas: 'softly in manner, boldly in fact'

Our country exists and is able to bring its own perspective to the world because it produces artists of international standing with a vigorous creative talent, but also because exceptional personalities like Antoni Vila Casas, promoter of the foundation that bears his surname, are born among us .

The Vila Casas Foundation has in Barcelona the Can Framis Museum of Contemporary Art and the VolaArt Spaces, dedicated to temporary exhibitions of contemporary art; in Palafrugell of the Museum of Contemporary Sculpture Can Mario, and in Torroella de Montgrí of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Palau Solterra. But then we must add other major initiatives such as the agreements with town councils such as that of Vila-Seca, linked to the Castle, or such as that of l'Escala-Empúries, in relation to the art fund of Joan Puig Guillot.

The immense cultural work conceived and carried out by Antoni Vila Casas responds to a passion for art and an unequivocal – firm and consistent – commitment to the country. We Catalans have lived for long periods with institutions imposed or subordinated to foreign governments. If in these unfavorable conditions we have managed to last, it has been because we have never given up being. Antoni Vila Casas believed in the work of our creators, he defended it not only with words, but with exhibitions and acquisitions. We cannot explain the vitality and social recognition of art among us since 1986 without the tireless support it has received, beyond the action of official bodies, from Antoni Vila Casas and the teams he has been able to set up to manage his projects, which he has built with a vocation of continuity.

I have referred to Antoni Vila Casas with Quintilian's well-known expression that reflects his character: suaviter in modo, fortiter in re . And it is that Vila Casas embodied elegance, subtlety, an exquisite taste for beauty, but this did not make him a pusillanimous man; on the contrary, in Vila Casas sensitivity and determination went together. That is why his life has been so fruitful. Now that the cycle of his years has closed, his memory remains bright and his precious legacy remains strong, deserving of admiration and deep gratitude.