Joan Sureda - Biography#
Joan Sureda (Barcelona, 1949). Graduated from the University of Barcelona and completed his PhD in History at the University of Valencia. Since 1990 he has been Professor of Art History at the University of Barcelona and previously held similar posts at the universities of the País Vasco, the Hispalense in Seville, and the Complutense in Madrid.
Between 1986 and 1991 he was director of the Museu Nacional d’ Art de Catalunya, a museum that is exceptional for its mediaeval collections and for which he presented a complete architectonic and muesographic renovation. In the field of research, since 2007 he has directed and been the principal researcher of the ACAF/ART I, II and III projects, sponsored by Spain’s ministry of science and innovation.
His initial interest was in mediaeval studies, an interest that he has maintained right up to the present and which has given rise to publications notable for their methodological renewal. Among others: El romànic català. Pintura, 1975; El gòtic català.Pintura, 1977; La pintura románica en Cataluña, 1981; La pintura románica en España, 1985; Jaume Huguet, el capvespre d’un somni, 1994, Darreres manifestacions [coord.]] en L’ art gòtic a Catalunya. Pintura III, 2006, and exhibitions such as Capolavori per Sant'Antonio, Padova , 1995 y La España Medieval y el legado de Occidente, México D.F. 2004. He has investigated just as extensively the art of the first decades of the 20th Century in relation to society and politics.
At present, his lines of research are focused on modern art and new analytical methodologies for analysing it (El Siglo de las luces: ilustrados, neoclásicos y académicos, 1996; La época de las revoluciones, 2000; La gloria de los Siglos de Oro: mecenas, artistas y maravillas, 2006), on transcultural studies which, among other work, has given rise to the exhibition Arte y Cultura en torno a 1492 (Sevilla, 1992) and on the scientific direction of the Artes y Civilizaciones (2007-2008) collection, published in Spain and Italy, and in the formative processes of unique creators such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo and, especially, Goya and Velázquez, of which the exhibition Goya e Italia ( Museo de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 2008)and the publications Los mundos de Goya (2008) y Velázquez. Pintor y hombre del rey (2009) are examples.
