A vision in Vic
Enroute from Barcelona to Latour de Carol in the Pyrennes, is Vic, where it's well worth hopping off the train to go and see something special.
It's a place with a thing for sausages
... and giants
There are plenty of other things to see in Vic and some of them are marked on this map including the Placa Major (1), Tourist Info office (2), which as a good introductory video, Roman temple (3), museum of medieval art (4), Vic Cathedral (5), El Sucre (6) and the Library with various exhibitions (7).
We're going to take a closer look at the Cathedral (5) which has something special inside.
The walls are completely covered in murals.
They were painted between 1940 and 1945 by Josep Maria Sert
and were made to replace the ones he’d created for the cathedral in the 1920’s but had been destroyed when it was gutted by fire in the Spanish Civil War. They cover the typical Christian themes like Adam and Eve’s fall.
But while other artists tend to depict the fated duo with plenty of colourful allure
Titian
Durer
v. Heemskerck
von Stuck
This is what Josep wanted us to see
The toned-down style is known as grisaille, as it’s usually painted in different shades of grey.
And while he paired back the colour and fine detail, he beefed up the subjects with rippling muscles and great hats.
St. Luke the Evangelist
Judging by the colour and some people’s reactions to it, instead of grisaille, perhaps Sert’s style might be better known as marmite-aille. But love it or hate it, it’s undeniably strong stuff. Maybe in our relatively peaceful and prosperous times, it can hard to understand how being surrounded by graphic pictures of fellow humans meeting their grizzly ends can be anything other than unsettling.
But these were painted during a World War for a flock who had just suffered three years of brutal civil war, famine and disease and feared more bloodshed could spill back over into Spain at any time.
Could being surrounded by pictures of the suffering of the saints before their final redemption be some sort of comfort?
We know war had had a profound effect on Josep and the pictures he made. The murals we see here were his third attempt at decorating the church. His first designs, after winning the commission as a bright young thing in his 20’s, were full of colour.
But the First World War happened and his world-view changed.
He abandoned his designs and created something more sober for the new times.
But just 6 years after they were completed, the Spanish Civil War broke out and the Cathedral was gutted by fire.
His murals were all but destroyed and his friend, Canon Jaume Serra was killed. When the Civil War ended, he set to work on replacing the murals, while the rest of Europe was tearing itself apart. Forty-five years after he had first been commissioned to decorate the cathedral, he completed what we see now.
Josep died just two weeks later
There are now efforts underway to make sure more people get to know about the murals and of Josep Sert’s other works with exhibitions and guided tours.
You can also see the remains of the previous murals that were salvaged from the Cathedral along with other artefacts at the City Hall and in the local library.
And if that just whetted your appetite for religious art, why not pop to the Museum of Episcopal Art next door to the Cathedral. You could also pick up a copy of a fab book on the murals by Miquel Molist Badiola.
Getting there
Vic is an hour from Barcelona and is also a great place to stop en-route to/from France when using the night train from Paris via LaTour de Carol.
Useful links
Tourist Information Office: https://www.victurisme.cat/
Museum of Episcopal Art: https://www.museuartmedieval.cat/es