MNAC receives two new Gaudí drawings

Two drawings by legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí acquired by the Catalan government, largely thanks to financial support from the bank La Caixa, entered Catalonia’s National Art Museum on Monday.

The two unique works from 1908 and 1910 depict the exterior and interior of the Colònia Güell church, located just outside Barcelona.

The "rare" and "important" Gaudí pieces, as museum officials put it, were discovered in 1967 in a coal mine in the Colònia Güell town, which the artist painted on an inverted photograph of the church's model. 

The works were purchased for 320,000 euros, of which the La Caixa bank contributed 75%, and will not be seen until the museum’s exhibition dedicated to Gaudí in the summer of 2021.

The investment by the financial institution forms part of the collaboration with the Catalan government in the fields of social, cultural, scientific, and research work. In total, La Caixa, contributed 240,000 of the 320,000 euros that the pieces cost.

Part of the pieces were destroyed during the Civil War, and the two drawings now included in the MNAC's collections remained hidden in coals until their discovery in 1967. 

In 2012 the government declared the pieces to be of national cultural interest, and an auction for them was blocked.