In 1973, the advertiser Lluís Bassat was walking down Consell de Cent street when, at the height of the Sala Adrià, which was directed by Francesc Mestre, an exhibition by Serra de Rivera caught his attention. Inside awaited him Bather, an enigmatic painting (the naked figure of a woman in a flooded room who sinks an arm into the water that reaches halfway up her leg) that not only stole his heart but changed his life. That afternoon he not only left with the canvas under his arm but also with 35% ownership of the gallery (he later convinced seven friends to acquire another 35%), and until 1980, when it closed its doors, they organized more than eighty exhibitions. “There I began to get to know the artists; and with my wife, Carmen, we bought one or two works from each of them. And so, almost unintentionally, we built a collection that today has more than 3,000 works.”
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Luís Bassat and Carmen Orellana received the GAC award for the promotion of visual arts this Tuesday, which is annually granted by Catalan gallery owners during the Nit del Galerisme, held at the Macba. “We have never bought a boat or a sports car; whenever we wanted something special, it was a painting or a sculpture. Even when we were dating, at 15 and 16 years old, we went to more galleries than discos,” admitted the founder of Nau Gaudí, home to the collection of the Fundació Carmen & Lluís Bassat, in a prior meeting with journalists.
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The Nit del Galerisme has presented its annual awards, which this edition went to the galleries Joan Gaspar (best historical exhibition for Clavé en escena), Alegría (best annual programming), Antoni Pinyol (established artist, for Eclipsi by Carles Pujol), RocíoSantaCruz (mid-career artist, for La campana còsmica by Dionís Escorsa) and Sorondo Projects (emerging artist, Luis Rentería). The GAC for curatorship went to Nekane Aramburu for Le cercle lumineux at the Museu Apel·les Fenosa; the critics’ award to Ricard Mas; the collecting award to the Generalitat; and the media award to the podcast El mundo del arte con Carmen Corbera. The jury, chaired by critic Conxita Oliver, was composed of artist Salvador Juanpere, curator Pilar Cruz, critic Eudald Camps, and journalist Antoni Ribas.
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Bassat did not overlook the happy coincidence that another honorary award, corresponding to a gallery career, was given to Mayoral, a space that opened its doors in 1989 in the same Consell de Cent location where it all began. “The opening was on May 12,” said Jordi Mayoral, who attended the party with his brother Eduard. They were barely a few inches off the ground, but the impression was of entering “a magical world we had never imagined and didn’t know what it would mean for us. It was a project by my parents, made with all the enthusiasm in the world, and also with great courage, because in the end they had a very clear purpose: to promote Catalan culture not only in Barcelona but internationally.” Today, Galería Mayoral has a presence at the most important fairs in the world, from Tefaf to Art Basel, and since 2024 has a second space dedicated to young artists. “The award,” he said, “is for the career, which is what is seen, but the story continues.”
Francesc Torres expresses his surprise at the award after many years without a gallery in Barcelona
The artist Francesc Torres (Barcelona, 1948), awarded the GAC for his career, also spoke, despite having been without a gallery in Barcelona for many years. “It was a surprise, I didn’t expect it, because the type of work I have always done, especially from the beginning to the middle of my career, made my presence in galleries very difficult and everything gravitated more towards the museum, where what I do was possible,” admitted the 2024 Velázquez award winner, who lives between the United States (“while Trump doesn’t finish off the country”) and Barcelona, and announced that he has finally found a gallery in his city, where he will exhibit in September and with which he has committed long-term: Seltz, in the Balmes street location that for many years was the gallery Joan Prats. Meanwhile, he is preparing a major exhibition at the Reina Sofía.
