RESURRECTIO, SANTA MARIA DE L'ALBA

From May 2004 to December 2004, the artist dedicated himself to studying the architectural space, the iconographic programme, the light and colour, generating a large number of sketches, preliminary studies, full-scale drawings and three-dimensional models until the final project was defined.

TECHNIQUE: Al fresco painting wall
PERIOD: 2004 - 2005
BUILDING: Santa Maria de l'Alba Parish Church
CITY/REGION: Tàrrega (L’Urgell, Catalonia)
DIMENSIONS: 180 m² | maximum height 20.7 m | Ø arch 10.5 m

 

This creative process for the murals was exhibited in public before the final work was carried out.

Carrying out the paintings

An 18-metre high scaffolding was needed, equivalent to a five-floor building, and which was nine metres wide, over two tons of lime mortar, pigments and four months of work on site to do the 180 square metres of wall and arches.

Josep Minguell signed Resurrectió on the 20^th October 2005 and it was solemnly blessed on the 3^rd of December the same year, in a ceremony presided over by Monsignor Josep Traserra, Bishop of Solsona.

The vertical wall covers the theme of the Resurrection, constructing the scene from the symbolic force of the elements that make it up representing the moment of the discovery of the empty tomb.

The light from the empty tomb shines out on a spring landscape, the moment of the rebirth of nature.

The great tombstone lying on the ground and the shroud are signs of the Resurrection.

The guards at the entrance to the tomb, as bewildered spectators, are figures that have always appeared in the pictorial tradition. At the foot of the wall, an olive tree is an allusion to the garden of Gethsemane and Peace.

The upper part of the wall is complemented by an arch where two biblical figures associated with death and resurrection are represented: Jonas and the sea monster, Elijah’s chariot of fire.

Full project: Santa Maria de l'Alba