The exhibition catalogue Modest Urgell, beyond the horizon , is a sample of the life and artistic career of the painter and playwright Modest Urgell, born in Barcelona in 1839.
Curated by Miquel-Àngel Codes Luna, the exhibition provides an exhaustive review of the life and work of the painter, who, apart from being one of the most outstanding artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, is also one of the most unknown and little studied. In 2019, coinciding precisely with the centenary of his death, the Modest Urgell Year was celebrated, an initiative of the Generalitat de Catalunya with the support and collaboration of one of the museums that preserves the most work by the artist: the Museu d’Art de Girona.
Girona is, precisely, the city where the painter spent – in his own words – “the most peaceful years of my life”, with his wife and also painter Eleonor Carreras – although no known work of hers has been preserved -, with whom he had two children who were also painters: Ricardo – who would become a successful artist – and Modesta.
A man of character, with a large moustache and white hair, ahead of his time, he is surprising for his eagerness to travel, his summer stays in Berck (Pas de Calais), his trips to Paris – where he came into contact with numerous artists and intellectuals of the time – and all the places in Catalonia where he lived and walked, which he captured and captured in his paintings, almost always horizontal, so often marked by twilight landscapes, serene and infinite, with mysterious atmospheres of a pictorial style that could certainly be defined, and in fact the painter himself defined himself, as romantic.
Apart from painting, the exhibition also mentions one of the artist’s lesser-known artistic facets: theatre. Urgell wrote numerous plays, a world that would be, along with painting, another of his great passions.
The catalogue becomes an essential complement to the exhibition, with articles by experts such as Miquel-Àngel Codes Luna, Francesc Fontbona, Dolors R. Roig, Ricard Mas, Enric Ciurans and Esther Alsina, who provide new data, always full of interest, on the life and work of this important artist, who also influenced later artists such as Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí or Hernández Pijoan, to name a few. The texts – in Catalan and English – are accompanied by high-quality images that make this catalogue a valuable tool for discovering or getting to know better what was one of the most interesting artists of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
All the works in the exhibition are included in this catalogue, translated into English, which includes texts by Miquel-Àngel Codes Luna, curator of the exhibition; Carme Clusellas, curator of the Year of Urgell; and by specialists in art history: Francesc Fontbona; Dolors R. Roig; Ricard Mas, Enric Ciurans and Esther Alsina.
The catalogue can be purchased at the Museu d’Art shop and also online at the Generalitat de Catalunya bookstore.
