Were you a collector as a child? I was. Stamps; seashells; those evocative sheets of fine tissue that they used to wrap individual citrus fruits. Another month, another collection. By the time I was ten, I’d abandoned the lot.
Not Frederic Marès though. You may not know him, but he’s Catalonia’s foremost 20th century sculptor, and you’ll find his work on public buildings and in churches here.
How he made time for his work is a mystery. He was an obsessive collector. He collected sculpture to inform his own studies, and …. stuff, because it was interesting.
This is Marès suitcase. He seems pretty well-travelled.
By 1947, his collection was so large that he made it public. On his death in 1991, he bequeathed it to the City of Barcelona. It fills an entire museum.
Here’s the place to come to find an eclectic mix of religious sculpture: crucifixions and Pietàs by the score, as well as Christmas crib figures from the 19th century. It sounds dour, but it’s not. His personal choices make for fascinating viewing…. but if it all gets a bit intense, pop upstairs.
Here are tin soldiers; toy theatres; pairs of spectacles; early bicycles; pipes; dolls; door keys; clocks: walking sticks; extraordinary glass domes that seem to be full of dried flowers – look again. Each flower is made from dozens of shells – this was 19th century seaside art.
This museum, in the heart of Tourist Barcelona, is not crowded. Which was fine by us. But those tourists who amble past, never noticing it’s there, are missing out.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Those other tourists are, indeed, missing out!
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Which is fine by us….
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There is a fine line between collector and hoarder isn’t there? There are people who are known as extreme collectors – possibly/probably Frederic Marès? I think it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
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And it also depends what you collect. He had a very good eye, unsurprisingly.
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I have been collecting picture post cards since I was eight. At least they don’t take up too much room – the messages on the back are more interesting than the pictures.
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That sounds great. Sadly, sending cards on holiday seems to be dying out, but they’re so lovely to receive.
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Absolutely fascinating, if I ever go to Barcelona again I will certainly visit.
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Oh do. I think it might be your sort of place.
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Wow! I used to collect stamps and tickets as a kid. Basil collects coins, stamps, and currency. We also save entry tickets to tourist attractions as souvenirs. 🙂
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Oh, come to think, so do I. We always used to do a scrapbook every holiday. A downside of blogging is that we no longer do this. A bit sad, that.
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I have a problem with collections myself. My children have already informed me they will be very choosy about what they want..surely not all of it!
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I’m reaching the point in my life when I begin to think I ought to tidy up after myself…..
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Now that’s what I call a treasure. Thanks for sharing.
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It’s an astonishing place, leading to a bad case of museum foot…..
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Museum foot, hubby gets that all the time. I always find him sitting in a corner.
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I love collections like these!
I don’t remember collecting anything when I was a child; if I ever brought anything home from holidays like shells or pretty stones they mysteriously disappeared after a while unless I secreted them somewhere. The only things I collect now are books and I have a smallish collection of DVDs and CDs because I am old-fashioned and like to own copies of favourite films and music.
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Oh, I’m old fashioned in that way too. Nowt wrong with that.
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I can totally understand these sorts of collections–collecting things turns the world into a treasure hunt. You’re never bored, because you’re seeking that next find. The museum seems to have done an excellent job of presenting his objets to honor them.
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They have. We were endlessly fascinated and spent ages there, till exhaustion truly set in. But we’ll be back….
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What an amazing collection. I like all the labels that his suitcase collected too …
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I didn’t show you the half of it either! Yup, he was well-travelled too.
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Aaaah, WHAT A TREASURE this is. This is the ONE place I’d visit for sure if ever my travels bring me back to B. I LOVE all of it. But I think I’d want any of those walking sticks, some are rather fancy and terribly modern!!! 🙂 Must be my ongoing blindness.
As a child we were rather on the very modest/poor side as a worker’s family with 4 kids. On Saturday pm’s, 10′ before the ‘delicatessen’ shop nearby closed, my dad was found waiting with 2 empty cardboards for the rolling down of the door-griddle. He returned, on foot, with the findings of his treasure hunt. And hence I started a collection of orange papers from the Moro oranges and others…. We also got the occasional kokos nut, ‘fancy’ fruits such as pomegranate, lichies, bananas!!! etc. Him or my mom then proceeded to make something nourishing and good for the family. We had a lot of ‘Birchermüesli’ – and anecdotic side remark – I and my son were patients of Dr. Bircher-Benner’s grandson, who was a fantastic and very in-depth homeopathic doctor in Switzerland.
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Ah! You like orange papers too! They were lovely, and so rarely seen nowadays. We were early English adopters of Bircher-muesli too – and it turns out you’re all but related!
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