The Pavilion of the Spanish Republic in Paris
The Pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 Paris International Exhibition was the mouthpiece in Europe for the Republican cause. The aim was to gain international support in the fight against fascism.
Designed by Josep Lluís Sert and Luis Lacasa, it was inaugurated in July 1937. It allowed the world to see a wide range of cultural developments that took place in defence of legitimate government. The aim was to show what the country was experiencing through art, created in real time, as a response to the grave events that were taking place.
Important works such as Guernica by Pablo Picasso, La Montserrat by Juli González, Mercury Fountain by Alexander Calder and The Catalan Peasant in Revolt (also known as The Reaper) by Joan Miró – which disappeared after being exhibited in the Pavilion – were shown along with those of other artists who were equally committed to the Republic, but who were less well known to the general public. A large part of the works included in the exhibition of the Pavilion of the Republic, and which are currently included in the Museum’s collections, can be admired in these rooms.
Following the assassination of Federico García Lorca, a tribute was paid to the figure of the poet and playwright at the Paris International Exhibition. During the exhibition, tributes were paid to him with poetry recitals and a display of his books and photographs, among other things.
Fernando Briones’ painting Allegory of the Execution of Federico García Lorca (1937) pays homage to the poet and represented an explicit condemnation of his murder. When the Paris Pavilion was dismantled, the work was handed over to the Palau Nacional, the building hosting the Museum Nacional, along with many other works on display in the Pavilion.
Allegory of the Execution of Federico García Lorca, Fernando Briones, 1937