P0108

Sketch for the wall painting “The Colón Circle”

Ref Num.: P0108

Date: 1933

Typology: Painting

Technique: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 35 x 47.5 cm

Signed: “Nogués / 1933” top, right

Generalitat de Catalunya

This small painting is a preparatory sketch for the wall painting “The Colon Circle” (destroyed in 1936) by Xavier Nogués and Manuel Humbert. It was done in tempera and was displayed at the prestigious Hotel Colón, which stood on the corner of Plaça Catalunya and Passeig de Gràcia. The hotel opened in 1902, and was home to Barcelona’s most high-class café and restaurant. It was a meeting place for a number of artists who were steeped in the spirit of the art movement noucentisme, under the auspices of their patron and friend, the industrialist and collector Lluís Plandiura (Barcelona, 1882-1956). In 1936 a group of anarchists entered the hotel and subjected the painting to rounds of machine gun fire as, to them, it symbolised the “bourgeoisie” they were fighting against. Two more paintings by Nogués also disappeared, one recreating a café scene in the 1830s and another of the bar in 1934 in which Nogués portrayed himself as a barman. Lluís Plandiura kept this preparatory sketch of the painting of the literary gatherings held by the “Penya del Colón”, or Colón circle. The empty chair is in honour of Ricard Canals who died in 1931. The people depicted are, from right to left: the patron, Lluis Plandiura (detail from the photo), Xavier Nogués (with his back to us, detail from the photo), Josep Maria Xiró, Oleguer Junyent, Borralleras, Pere Ynglada, Domingo Carles, Josep Dunyac, Francesc Labarta, Enric Porta, Isidre Riera, the waiter Blai, Jaume Mercadé, Enric Casanovas, Utrillo, Manuel Humbert, Alexandre de Cabanyes and Joan Llongueras. Inventory number in red on the bottom, right: 42.143. This painting, along with 20 other works, some of them by the artists in the painting – Labarta, Junyent, Canals, Puigdengolas, Pidelaserra, Colom, Mombrú, Domenge, Mallol, Cabanyes, Pascual, Humbert, Puig and Perucho – was auctioned at Bonanova Subastes on 3rd October 2024. Highlights included Ricard Canals’ portrait of the eminent patron. The painting was acquired by the Catalan government. No decision has been taken about which museum it will go to, but in all probability it will be the MNAC. Image rights: Bonanova Subastes.

Lluís Plandiura collection

Rafael Benet, Xavier Nogués, caricaturista y pintor, Ediciones Omega, Barcelona, 1949, p. 93 .Cecília Vidal Maynou (dir.), Xavier Nogués (1873-1941), Alfa Books, Fundació Xavier Nogués, Barcelona, 2021, pp. 137-138 and 181.