The Museu de Valls in Valls will inaugurate a special exhibition, “From Matter to Eternity: Still Lifes from the Joan Artur Roura i Comas Collection,” on Saturday, 24 January, at 12pm. This exceptional display brings together nearly 70 works from the Barcelona collector, dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries. Visitors can see the exhibition until 3 May.
Roura, born in Barcelona in 1944, is an eclectic collector who acquires art based on personal passion and interest. This approach has helped him build a collection of several hundred pieces. He might be drawn to a 12th-century object as much as a recent work by an emerging artist.
Within this broad and varied collection, his still life pieces form a distinct group, a collection within the larger one. Still life is a genre not widely recognised today, however, it has been practised by major art historical figures, from Caravaggio to Picasso, including Juan Sánchez Cotán, Frans Snyders, Clara Peeters, Cézanne, and Morandi. In Catalonia, still life has been a particularly explored genre over the last 150 years, and the Roura collection offers strong proof of this.
Four Centuries of Art on Display
From the more than 150 still life pieces in his collection, nearly 70 works by 65 artists have been chosen for this exhibition. Most of these artists are linked to Catalan painting, though there is also a selection of Spanish artists. The collection covers a chronological span of 400 years.
Visitors will find works by well-known artists such as Juan Gris, an international painter, and Joaquim Torres Garcia, who has had solo exhibitions at New York’s MoMA and Madrid’s Museo Reina Sofía. The show also includes pieces by Joaquim Mir, Olga Sacharoff, Durancamps, Manolo Hugué, Humbert, Ràfols Casamada, and Clavé. From the Tarragona region, notable works include those by Jaume Mercadé from Valls, Francesc Gimeno and Francesc Todó from Tortosa, and Magda Folch from Reus.
Collector's Generosity
This exceptional exhibition would not have been possible without the generosity of Joan Artur Roura. He sees his collecting as a way to share art with the community. His programme of depositing works in Catalan museums shows this, with institutions like the Museu de l’Empordà, the Museu Episcopal de Vic, the Museu de Lleida, the Museu Diocesà de Tarragona, and the Museu de Reus already benefiting from works by various artists and periods.
With this exhibition, the Museu de Valls offers the public an opportunity to rediscover the still life genre through a diverse and quality collection. The show aims to highlight the historical importance and artistic depth of still life painting, encouraging a new appreciation for this often-overlooked art form.
