Bombing and killing of the civilian population
The new art rooms also contain a large number of works depicting the effects of the war. Of particular note are those depicting civilian victims, especially the effects of indiscriminate bombing. Several works show the threatening presence of planes over fleeing citizens. Of great symbolic importance is the large oil painting Executions at Badajoz bull ring, by Martí Bas, which documents one of the bloodiest episodes of the war, the murder of thousands of people in the Badajoz bullring by the rebel troops. Also of note in this area are the images of the evacuations of the civilian population, of which the museum has several paintings.
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Bombardment, Andrés Fernández Cuervo, 1937 |
Executions at Badajoz bull ring, Martí Bas, 1937 |
Among the scenes of aerial bombings, deaths, evacuations and terror, the figures of combatants emerge and are glorified in paintings, sculptures and posters. Among the most emblematic pieces are the large-format sculpture of the militiaman El Madriles, by Josep Viladomat, and the portrait of the militiaman Lina Ódena. This is a tribute work produced following her premature death in the first months of the war. This painting was exhibited in the Pavilion of the Republic in 1937.
It is worth noting the presence of women as protagonists in numerous works, whether in the role of heroines or victims. An important new feature is also the works by women artists which form part of the museum's collection and which have never before been exhibited. This is the case of the artists Ángela Nebot and Juana Francisca Rubio, who took part in the Quarterly Exhibition of Plastic Arts in Barcelona in 1938, works that had never before been exhibited.
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J. Pons [?]. Lina Ódena, 1937. From the «International Exhibition» of Paris (1937) |
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Lina Ódena was a communist militant and fighter for the Republic, this militiawoman died during the Spanish Civil War. Ódena was an example to many women who fought during the war, that refused to stay home and accept the traditional role given to them by society at the time.