P0046

“The Colón Circle”

Ref Num.: P0046

Date: ca. 1933

Typology: Painting

Technique: Oil on canvas attached to the wall

Dimensions: Unknown

Signed: –

Destroyed

A mural by Xavier Nogués and Manuel Humbert, now lost. This mural painting was displayed in the salon of Barcelona’s prestigious Hotel Colón, on the corner of Plaça Catalunya and Passeig de Gràcia. Opened in 1902, it was the city’s most fashionable café-restaurant and gradually expanded over the years. It became a meeting place for various artists associated with noucentisme, who gathered around their friend and patron Lluís Plandiura. In 1936, a group of anarchists entered the premises and fired gunshots at the work, which they regarded as a symbol of the “bourgeoisie” they were fighting against. Two other paintings by Nogués were also lost in this unfortunate incident: one depicting a café in the 1830s, and another, dating from 1934, in which the artist portrayed himself as a “barman”.

This black-and-white photomechanical reproduction, dating from around the 1930s, belongs to the collection of the Biblioteca de Catalunya (UG Hos-A-3946) and shows the state of the work created by the duo Humbert and Nogués before it disappeared. In addition to Humbert, Nogués, and Plandiura, the figures depicted include: Josep M. Xiró, Oleguer Junyent, Joaquim Borralleras, Pere Ynglada, Domingo Carles, Josep Dunyac, Francesc Labarta, Enric Porta, Isidre Riera, Jaume Mercadé, Enric Casanovas, Miquel Utrillo, Alexandre de Cabanyes, Joan Llongueres, and—standing in the background— a waiter. A small sketch of this work, featuring some variations, is held at the MNAC, following its acquisition by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2024. A comparison between the two works reveals significant differences.

We thank Begoña Forteza, of the Manuscripts Department of the Biblioteca de Catalunya, for her assistance in cataloging this work. Photograph: Santi Mercader.

Barcelona – Antic Hotel Colón

Cecília Vidal Maynou (dir.), Xavier Nogués (1873-1941), Alfa Books, Fundació Xavier Nogués, Barcelona, 2021, pp. 137-138 & 181.