Room 16

The great architect Henry Van de Velde used to say that “a line is a force”, which is absolutely true, regardless of its expression. This room exhibits three remarkable examples of the expressive possibilities of lines.

Tauló I, 1982, by Enric Pladevall, is a Trinitarian sculpture composed of three sawn planks. The end of each of plank curves gradually, as if it were three frames of an animated film, until reaching a third of its total length, with a balance that conveys rest and tension at the same time.

Nausica, 1989, by Albert Ràfols-Casamada, is part of that lyrical abstraction in which gestures and colouring are arranged with harmonious sensitivity on two square supports. Pasted brushstrokes and linear gestures provide the composition with greater energy.

On display with them is Los límites del control, 2018, by Pep Vidal, a 72-page work that, conceived as a whole, is still surprisingly autonomous when seen up close. The minimal and constant game of graphic variations between lines and arrows seems to form a unique psycho-geography.