P0024

Fragment of the wall decoration “Galeries Laietanes”

Ref Num.: P0024

Date: 1915

Typology: Painting

Technique: Tempera transferred to canvas

Dimensions: 209.5 x 272 cm

Signed: Unsigned and undated

Barcelona, MNAC, no. 42.412

The Galeries Laietanes had a basement café, El Celler, where members of the noucentista group met. The owner Santiago Segura commissioned Xavier Nogués to paint the murals for the café. They were on a wine-related theme and were later removed by the restorer Ramon Gudiol. The series, which consists of 38 fragments, comprises almost all the murals, except for the large blue panel that was the centrepiece of the main room and some smaller fragments. They are now found in different collections. Three arches with characters, one strangling a cat, a fountain with wine flowing from it, a person walking and the popular saying above the arches which reads *La carn fa carn, e lo pa fa pança / mes lo vi mena la dança*, the Catalan equivalent of *Eat, drink and be merry*

MNAC acquisition, 1947

Francesc Pujols, “Xavier Nogués”, La Revista, Barcelona, 1917, vol. III. Romà Jori, “La Cava de les Galeries d’Art Modern i Antiguitats”, Vell i Nou, Barcelona, 15/9/1915, 9; 15/12/1915, 39. Romà Jori, “Les caves: decoracions d’en Nogués”, Vell i Nou, Barcelona, 15/12/1916, 39, pp. 312-314. Joan Sacs, Xavier Nogués, Col·lecció Quaderns Blaus, Llibreria Catalònia, La nostra gent, Barcelona, 1928. Joan Teixidor, Notas para un inventario de la obra de Xavier Nogués, Anales y Boletín de los Museos de Arte de Barcelona, Arte Moderno, vol. 3, 1945, III. 1, p. 12. Pinturas para El Celler por Xavier Nogués, exhibition catalogue, Barcelona, 1947. Rafael Benet, Xavier Nogués, caricaturista y pintor, Ediciones Omega, Barcelona, 1949, p. 92, plate 19. J. Cortés. El “Celler de les Galeries Layetanes” en el Museo de Arte Moderno. Anales y Boletín de los Museos de Arte de Barcelona, vol. IX, 1951, pp. 159-169. J. Barbeta, A. Casanovas, M. Gil and C. Vidal, Exposición Xavier Nogués, Barcelona 1873-1941, Palacio de la Virreina, March-April 1967, Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, Museos de Arte, Barcelona, 1967, file 68, p. 22. Xavier Nogués. Pintures murals procedents del Celler de les Galeries Laietanes, exhibition catalogue, Barcelona, Museu d’Art Modern, 1984, p. 25, cat. no. 9, fig. Catàleg de pintura segles XIX i XX. Fons del Museu d’Art Modern, 2 vol., Barcelona, 1987, II, p. 730, cat. no. 1842-9, fig. Cecília Vidal Maynou (dir.), Xavier Nogués (1873-1941), Alfa Books, Fundació Xavier Nogués, Barcelona, 2021, p. 162.