Tàpies museum reopens—and socks it to ‘em
A massive sculpture of a threadbare sock, which was previously reject by Catalan authorities, dominates the new extension

By Edith Fishta | Web only
Published online 26 Feb 10 (Museums)

Facade of the Fundacio Antoni Tapies' new home in Barcelona (Photo: Gala Sicart)



Barcelona’s Fundació Antoni Tàpies re-opens on 3 March after a two-year-long, €8.3m expansion. Dominating the extra space is a sculpture by the Spanish-Catalan artist, El Mitjó, 2009, which caused a storm of controversy when first proposed 20 years ago. El Mitjó, which means sock in Catalan, was first commissioned, and then rejected, by the city authorities for its Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which opened in 1995. The supersized sock with a hole in its heal stands 2.75m tall, one-sixth of its originally intended size, which would have stood 18m tall.



Antoni Tàpies, now 86, never intended the sculpture to cause a fuss. “I did it because I wanted to give great value to small things like little objects or clothes, just like a Franciscan monk and Buddhists do”, he said at the time, responding to the official opinion that the work of art would be appreciated only by “neo-liberal, cultured people” and unpopular with the “uneducated”.

The Fundació Antoni Tàpies was created by the artist in 1984, and it opened a museum of modern art in 1990 in a converted print works in the heart of Barcelona’s historic Eixample district. The architects Abalos+Sentkiewicz have modernised the building. It reopens with an exhibition of work created by the abstract expressionist sculptor and painter over the past two decades. Following this will be an exhibition of work by Eva Hesse (from 14 May to 1 August).