The exhibition Nonell, Vallmitjana and the “Gitanos” explores, from a new perspective, the personal, artistic, and literary relationship between the painter Isidre Nonell (1872–1911) and the writer Juli Vallmitjana (1873–1937). They first met at Barcelona’s Llotja School and subsequently developed their artistic careers side by side. Both were associated with the Colla del Safrà group and shared a close connection with the Spanish “Gitano” community, a world they would portray, respectively, through painting and literature.

The exhibition examines significant aspects of the period through Nonell’s and Vallmitjana’s depictions of Barcelona’s urban outskirts and marginalised communities. Nonell, Vallmitjana and the “Gitanos” brings together paintings, drawings, photographs, theatre costume designs and literary texts by Nonell and Vallmitjana, as well as works by many other artists of the period, including Ricard Canals, Carles Casagemas, Ramon Casas, Pablo Picasso, and Ramon Pichot.