Tónia Coll

When I initiated “The Paintings Section from Davis Museum Barcelona”, I conceived a series of portraits paying tribute to the first artists of the mini museum. This work honors Tónia Coll and reinterprets Joaquín Sorolla’s brushwork within a restrained range of greys.

Produced during the “Gray Period” (2011–2016), it adopts a square format that refers to Davis Museum Barcelona, situated within a genealogy of institutional critique initiated by Duchamp with “Boîte-en-valise”, continued by Filliou with “Galerie légitime”, and further developed by Broodthaers with “Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles”.

700 $

Product Details

When I initiated “The Paintings Section from Davis Museum Barcelona,” my original intention was to develop a series of portraits as a tribute to the first artists who participated in the Davis Museum Barcelona. This painting honors Tónia Coll, my former professor of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. Formally, I drew upon the vibrant brushwork of the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, reinterpreting his atmospheric treatment of light and humanist sensibility through a restrained palette of greys.

The work, part of the “Gray Period” (2011–2016), is executed in oil on canvas. I adopted a square format that echoes the cubic geometry of Davis Museum Barcelona—a miniature contemporary art museum conceived as a readymade sculpture, nonprofit project, and cultural entity recognized by the Generalitat de Catalunya. The museum extends a lineage of institutional critique initiated by Marcel Duchamp with “Boîte-en-valise,” continued by Robert Filliou with “Galerie légitime,” and further developed by Marcel Broodthaers with “Musée d’Art Moderne, Département des Aigles.”