Joaquim Mir returns to Mallorca 
Joaquim Mir returns to Mallorca 
Joaquim Mir, Posta de sol, c 1903. Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma
Joaquim Mir returns to Mallorca JOAQUIM MIR
The presentation of Joaquim Mir’s Posta de sol (Sunset), c. 1903, acquired by Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma, accompanied by a selection of artists who were Mir’s contemporaries.
It was in 1902, during the construction of the Gran Hotel de Palma by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, that Antonio Albareda, the building’s leaseholder, commissioned seven panels to decorate the large dining room; four were painted by Santiago Rusiñol and three by Joaquim Mir, who was asked to depict "marine views of the Mallorcan coast". Mir took so long to complete his panels that at one point Rusiñol offered to do them in fifteen days.
Mir painted the panels entitled Posta de sol (Sunset), La cala encantada (The Enchanted Cove) and La cala Sant Vicenç (Sant Vicenç Cove). In them, the painter from Barcelona strengthened the style and working method he discovered with the landscapes of Mallorca. Posta de sol is the smallest of the three large pictures; it synthesises all the breakaway, revolutionary values of the Mallorcan Mir – the extreme solitude of the landscape, a mixture of rocks and water, a visionary realism that reaches the point of abstraction, and contrasting zones of colours.
Such was the impact caused by this collection of landscapes when the hotel was inaugurated that the Barcelona press recorded the surprised reactions of the traditionalist Mallorcan painters.
In 1941, the Gran Hotel de Palma closed its doors for the last time and the pictures passed through the hands of various collectors until –as works of exceptional aesthetic value- they have become part of important collections. La cala encantada belongs to the Aena Collection of Contemporary Art, Cala Sant Vicenç is in the Collection of the Museu de Montserrat and Posta de sol has recently been acquired for the Permanent Collection of the Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma.
Posta de sol is the pictorial manifestation of the great Mir, the painter who found his expression in Mallorca and who rose to be one of the most important landscape artists of his time in Europe and one of the most original and unique creators of the period.
A selection of works by artists who were Joaquim Mir’s contemporaries and were linked to the landscape tradition of the beginning of the 20th century accompany Posta de sol in this exhibition organised by Es Baluard; they are Hermen Anglada-Camarasa, Francisco Bernareggi, Pedro Blanes Viale, Joan Fuster, Antoni Gelabert, Sebastià Junyer Vidal, Eliseu Meifrèn, Gregorio López Naguil, Pilar Montaner de Sureda, Cristòfol Pizà and Santiago Rusiñol.
Location – Hall: Floor -1
Production: Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma
