Tàpies through Words

Based on the link between the artist Antoni Tàpies and the world of books, the exhibition Tàpies a través de la paraula (Tàpies through Words) offers a journey through the work and conception of the Barcelona painter and sculptor. Each chapter of the exhibition takes the name of one of the texts written by the artist and introduces a relevant aspect of his work.

Among the various areas of interest that Tàpies had, the world of books and reading stands out. This attraction arose in him when he was quite young and was, to a large extent, inherited from his family. His mother’s father, Francesc Puig i Alfonso, was a well-known bookseller and publisher established in Plaça Nova, where the artist’s father had founded Llibreria Puig in 1861. As for his father, Antoni Tàpies remembered him always surrounded by papers and books, as he had a library with more than three thousand volumes. Through this library, the young Tàpies nourished his curiosity for art and the cultures of the world. Years later, the artist would go on to build up an extensive personal library. Antoni Tàpies’ relationship with the world of books was not only as a good reader, but also as the author of several editions of artists’ books, some of which were made in collaboration with poets and writers such as Rafael Alberti, Jaques Dupin, Pere Gimferrer, J.V. Foix, Maria Zambrano and, above all, Joan Brossa.

The exhibition can be visited until 2 February 2024 at the Horta – Can Mariner Library, and later it will be hosted by the Joan Miró Library (from 5 February to 5 April), the Nou Barris Library (from 8 April to 10 May) and the Sant Gervasi-Joan Maragall Library (from 13 May to 14 June). It is organised and produced by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Fundació Antoni Tàpies.

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