PALMA & GALLERIES
As a German you think I’ve been to Mallorca and Palma many times before but no, I haven’t.
It was planned to meet and spend some time with my family later. So I took some days for myself to discover Palma de Mallorca before heading to the east side of the island. I stayed at an Airbnb of a German street artist (that was not planned), Simone, because I prefer to connect to new people instead of spending my time at an anonymous hotel. She and her Moroccan boyfriend went to the market every day to sell her drawings. I’ve learned that you can earn really good money as a street artist! The belief of the struggling artist that most people have is maybe an outdated one - at least for Simone.
I didn’t research much about the art scene of Palma beforehand and decided to discover once I’m there. The great thing about going to new museums and art galleries is the input and inspiration I get. I’m always very hungry to learn about artists from different places and times. I love to immerse myself in huge colourful paintings, and I love to take my time for that. No rush please!
I’d like to share with you now three painters I discovered, and three places I believe you need to check out when you’re in Palma.
#1 - The Museu Fundación Juan March
The funcación Juan March was established in 1955 by Spain’s richest man back then and offers a collection of 20th century Spanish works of art. It’s located in Palma’s city center and entry is free. The house looked amazing and I found myself in quiet rooms with lots of different paintings from a lot of different artists.
Sarah Grilo, a self-taught artist originally from Argentina who started studying at the studio of the Catalan artist Vicente Puig. She is best known for her gestural abstract paintings.
#2 - The Gerhardt Braun Gallery
I found this gallery by strolling through the streets of the city center. It looked very inviting too me, I loved the lounge house that was played and when I entered the gallery - va-va-voom! I was in heaven! Why? Because I was seeing Leon Löwentraut paintings. He’s is one my favourite German painters of the younger generation. I was super happy to see his vibrant paintings up there (as you can see here)! That made my day. Here is a nice article of a Mallorca magazine about that exhibition.
#3 - AHOY! Art Gallery
I had no idea whom I was talking to when I just started to chat with the couple sitting comfortably at the the reception desk after my walk through the gallery which I found had the perfect size and great pieces of art. I shared what I was thinking and mentioned that I’ve never seen artwork from other painters who use this abstract technique I know from Leon Löwentraut. Turned out that in Düsseldorf there is a whole group of painters using that technique which was absolutely new to me. Well, I’ve learned something, right? And I’ve also learned that this gallery owner duo were Michael und Renate Pentzien who was a TV host in Germany (I knew her face looked familiar). One of the artists I’ve discovered in that gallery was Jordi Mollà who is also a director, filmmaker, writer and actor next to being a self-taught painter. I like what he is creating with the Mona Lisa paintings. A very nice link from an old master piece to us contemporary art consumers. Well done!