The exhibition “Francisca Rius i Sanuy (1891-1967). Design and life » has closed its doors with 7000 visitors. During the months it has been open, the public has discovered and fallen in love with this artist, unknown until very recently.
Inaugurated on November 29, 2025, the exhibition has been a unique opportunity to meet Francisca Rius i Sanuy, an artist and woman, one of many who had to navigate, and survive, in an era and in an environment that was not very favorable for female professional development. Her incipient artistic career showed a special sensitivity and technical and conceptual skill, and her early work seemed destined to excel in graphic design. But, first, her family and social environment limited her aspirations. And then the Spanish Civil War and subsequent political circumstances brought her professional and artistic career to an abrupt end.
The Art Museum has organized various activities around the exhibition, in which around 200 people have participated, contributing to deepening the legacy of Francisca Rius. A catalogue has also been published that publicizes the artist’s life and creative trajectory and highlights the interest of her work.
The proposal on Francisca Rius is part of the Museum’s commitment to giving visibility to women artists, following the path begun with exhibitions such as “Roser Bru. Overcoming Distance » «Flashes of an instant. The contribution of women artists to the Art Collection of the newspaper Avui », «Ferresa of silence. The artists of Feminal magazine », «From Paris to Girona. Mela Muter and Polish Artists in Catalonia », or « Olga Sacharoff: painting, poetry, emancipation ».
In this vein, we have just inaugurated the new temporary exhibition «Concha Ibáñez. The evocation of the landscape », the first exhibition in Catalonia dedicated to this artist after her death, in 2022, and coinciding with the centenary of her birth.
And in the meantime, we are preparing a new exhibition, which we will inaugurate in October: «Instruments of the soul. Matter and spirit in medieval Catalonia », a project shared with the MEV, the Lleida Museum and the Solsona Museum, which reflects on how material objects were, during the Middle Ages, a means of connecting with the divine.
Thanks to everyone who has made this journey possible through the work of Francisca Rius i Sanuy!
