Marcel Broodthaers 19 (Votez)

Davis Lisboa, Marcel Broodthaers 19 (Votez), 2023. Oil on linen, 50 × 50 × 3.5 cm (19.7 × 19.7 × 1.38 in).

This painting belongs to The Painting Section from Davis Museum Barcelona, a project conceived as a miniature contemporary art museum that functions simultaneously as a readymade sculpture, a collective artistic project, and a cultural entity officially recognized by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Within this series, Davis Lisboa develops portraits dedicated to artists who transformed the concept of the museum into a work of art itself, establishing a dialogue between painting, memory, and institutional imagination.

The work is based on a historical photograph of Marcel Broodthaers wearing a false nose, taken by his wife, Maria Gillissen. In the original image, the artist stands beside a fine art transport vehicle belonging to the company La Continentale Menkès. In this painting, however, that context has been replaced by a metaphysical background inspired by the pictorial atmosphere of Giorgio de Chirico. Lisboa reinterprets the scene through a psychologically ambiguous portrait of the Belgian artist, constructed with loose yet controlled brushwork, intense chromatic contrasts, and a deliberately surreal atmosphere. The luminous green background amplifies the image’s uncanny character and reinforces its silent strangeness.

The word “Votez,” positioned above the artist’s head, shifts the work away from traditional portraiture toward the territory of visual satire and political propaganda. Rather than asserting a fixed message, the text introduces a conceptual tension that opens readings connected to representation, cultural authority, and the mechanisms of public persuasion. In this sense, the painting functions simultaneously as a tribute to Broodthaers and as a critical reflection on his institutional legacy.

Balancing figuration and symbolic construction, Votez encapsulates Davis Lisboa’s approach to painting as a space of friction between historical reference and contemporary visual language. The work maintains a strong visual presence while extending, within the field of collectible contemporary painting, the conceptual logic that underpins Davis Museum Barcelona.