New exhibition mixing art and spirituality opens in Barcelona

Dealing with transcendence and spirituality, Pope Paul VI's art collection arrives in Spain at the Barcelona Diocesan Museum. 

The exhibition consists of 20 art pieces from diverse artists such as Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse or David Hockney. 

The collection originally exhibited in the Italian municipality of Concesio was put together after the death of the Pope Paul VI in late 1970s. For the first time, it is presented outside of its original museum.  

To Paul VI, bringing art and religion together was of high importance. He promoted the creation of contemporary art in the Vatican. 

"Paul VI had decided to bridge the gap between artists and the church," Giuliano Zanchi, the director of the Italian museum, said during a press conference ahead of the opening day. 

The exhibit highlights the Pope's position as he considered that art had a role to play in expressing the invisible, transcendence and other religious concepts, as a statement reads. "Art could also connect the church and secular worlds," the text adds. 

The director celebrates the opening of the exhibition in Barcelona as "it ensures that this collection, which is precious and important, can be made known beyond Italian borders." 

Zanchi pointed out the context of Paul VI's artistic connections at a moment where the "center of gravity of art" shifted from Europe to the United States and called to protect the pope's work and "intuition." 

Donated to the church, these pieces by 20th century artists, from expressionism to abstraction, are a testimony of their time, as the exhibition points out. This exhibition represents the strengthened relationship between modern art and the catholic Church. 

Helena Alonso, curator of this exhibition at the Diocesan Museum, emphasizes the particularity of those famous artists' art pieces. 

"It is really a surprise to discover that these artists made some religious artworks," Alonso told Catalan News. 

Among the exhibited paintings, some are directly representing Christ, the Virgen or main biblical events such as Doubting Thomas after Christ resurrected with the painting by Italian artist Massimo Pulini, 'The Incredulity of Saint Thomas', from 2007 or also Henri Matisse's 'Study for the Virgin and the Child' painted between 1950 and 1951. 

Other pieces are linked to the artists' emotions, notably during the Second World War. 

"It is really interesting to see how some artists, towards the end of their life or in moments of difficulty created artwork that represents human suffering," Helena Alonso explained.  

Art, for Alonso, allows for some questions to be discussed in a unique way. 

"The exhibition offers a look at how religion and spirituality have ceased to be exclusively a subject of religious art to become a universal subject, treated by artists of various cultures, origins and convictions," Alonso said. 

The exhibition will be open until March 2 at Barcelona's Diocesan Museum.