The MNAC in transformation: exhibition program for 2025

In 2025, the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) will present itself as an institution in full transformation. Far from a static view, it will face the challenge of redefining its identity, proposing a program that will explore its dimension as a space of memory, debate and contemporary creation. At this key moment in its trajectory, with physical and conceptual expansion on the horizon, the MNAC will invite a rethinking of the narratives and cultural policies that will define it through four main axes: the review of artistic narratives, the dialogue with the present, the critical reinterpretation of the past and a determined commitment to the feminist perspective.

This rethinking will begin with the revision of artistic narratives, highlighting art as a generator of meaningful experiences and connections with the world. Projects such as 'Zurbarán (Sobre) Natural', which will be inaugurated in March, will offer a contemporary reading of the Baroque, with the unpublished meeting of the three versions of The Vision of Saint Francis and the dialogue they will establish with modern artists such as Antoni Llena, Aurèlia Muñoz, Tàpies or Valldosera . At the same time, Eugènia Balcells will transform, from May, the Oval Room with 'From the Center', a monumental installation that will fuse spirituality and technology, evoking timeless spaces such as Stonehenge and establishing a connection between the past and the present. In addition, Marcel·lí Antúnez will propose, in December, 'Marcelàxia Collaborative Camp', a collaborative camp that will celebrate nature, community and art as shared experiences. An immersive project to delve into a dreamlike universe through creative workshops for all ages, designed and facilitated by Antúnez himself.

'From the center, flight', Eugènia Balcells (1982)

The dialogue with the present will also manifest itself in an uncomfortable but necessary reflection on the war, seen as both a historical reality and a metaphor for current conflicts. The works of Mario Armengol in 'Ink against Hitler' they are his caricatures for Allied propaganda during the Second World War, and which they will present from May, a combination of criticism and irony. The drawings of Sim (José Luis Rey Vila) , already in the autumn, which portray with cruelty the suffering of the Spanish Civil War, will be a direct window to the brutality of the conflict and will evoke the persistence of cultural and economic conflicts in the world today.

At the same time, the MNAC will face, also in the autumn, a critical review of its own history. From May, an exhibition will be exhibited on Francesc d'Assís Galí , a key figure in the origins of the museum. His work and career, which spans from modernism to the avant-garde, will be revisited in order to make visible his legacy as a master of the noucentisme, although Galí opted for a discreet role and disregarded himself as artist The exhibition also explores a fundamental chapter in the context of the great museum expansion project, which will have as its horizon the centenary of the International Exhibition of 1929. Galí was precisely one of the artists who participated in the Barcelona International Exhibition of 1929.

'Idyll', Mario Armengol

Already in the autumn, with exhibitions such as 'Els Dipòsits Franquiste del SDPAN', the museum will transparently analyze the political and historical implications of its collections, including the works acquired during the Franco regime by the SDPAN (Heritage Defense Service National Franco). This exercise in institutional memory will be complemented by the reinterpretation of the museum's spaces by artists such as Nora Ancarola , who in 'La força del Display. Archive GAE' will question colonialism, visual hierarchies and the architectural configuration of the building, opening paths towards a new, more plural institutionality.

The feminist perspective will occupy a central place in this rethinking, redefining art and culture from an equality perspective. A new permanent exhibition that will highlight the contributions of women artists throughout history. This is in line with the commitment that the museum has been developing for some time to integrate artists who are marginalized or removed from the canon in its collections. This perspective has transformed MNAC's acquisitions policy, prioritizing the recovery of works by women artists, especially in modern, contemporary art and photography collections. In total, 21 works will be exhibited in this area, of which 13 are by women, often outside the canon or little known. It will also seek to incorporate a feminist perspective in projects with active artists, such as the case of 'Strappo. Patriarchy does not fall by chance', which in the spring will present a powerful visual metaphor for the dismantling of patriarchy, combining critical discourse and aesthetics, by Mar Arza .

Sèrie del pa, nº 2, Esther Boix (1972)

Finally, the museum will open new Gothic Art rooms , coinciding with the fifteen years since the last presentation, inaugurated in 2010. This project will update knowledge about the works in the collection and present them with a renewed museography adjusted to the new times Innovative thematic readings will be incorporated and little-known works from the museum's collection will be introduced, while some well-known pieces will be restored.

In short, the MNAC of 2025 will question the bases and propose new ways to move forward, prioritizing memory, conflict and contemporary creation and asserting itself as a living institution, committed to its time and able to challenge hegemonic narratives.

Sant Jordi matant el drac. Dipòsit de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Col·lecció Nacional d'Art