Breton women in a painting in a Spanish museum, by a Polish painter of Jewish origin with French citizenship. And this is only the interesting beginning of the whole story.

The Holy Family according to Mela Muter

In Barcelona, at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, Mela Muter's painting 'The Holy Family' has been on display since 1912. Let's take a look at this intimate, intimate scene. The frame is so close that you can almost feel the lazy mood of a summer afternoon, with a cosy house in the background. Who are the two women from the Breton town of Concarneau, dressed in everyday clothes, tenderly caring for their children? [Photo 2]

The title of the painting, The Holy Family , takes us into the realm of Christian iconography, prompting us to look for depictions of Mary with the Child sleeping on her knees, accompanied by Saint Elizabeth with her son Saint John, in a centuries-old tradition. The figure of the elderly man in the background would have been w. Joseph, the guardian of Mary and Jesus, or perhaps Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband? It is certain that we are looking at biblical figures, above their heads the author has placed halos.

The pillars of the pergola, or arcade, on which the vegetation winds, create a decorative frame for the scene, worthy of Renaissance works, into which the almost symmetrical poses of the women fit. The balance of the composition reinforces the impression of tranquillity and the unshakeable certainty of the scene's duration. We can admire the refined colour scheme, of cool pinks, blues and navy blues, drowning in a warm range of ochres. The subject of motherhood was very close to Mela Muter, and she took it up many times. This personal insight allowed her to fill her paintings with authenticity and lyricism.

Mela Muter - Polish painter

A talented and admired artist, but acquainted for decades. A charming romantic and friend to the great personalities of her era, who dies alone, forgotten. Here is Mela Muter, an extraordinary woman, actually Maria Melania Mutermilch née Klingsland. A Varsovian who was born on 26 April 1876, into an assimilated, wealthy Jewish family with Polish patriotic traditions. She grew up in an artistic environment. Her father was a well-known patron of culture, supporting writers, and her brother Zygmunt was involved in art and literary criticism. However, she would spend most of her life in France. She will be attracted there by her desire for freedom and artistic education, and exposure to modern art. The second creatively important place for the artist will be Spain.

Mela Muter's emigration career

Mela Muter is counted among the artists associated with the École de Paris, a milieu of artists, mostly of Jewish origin, who came to Paris from Central and Eastern Europe in search of inspiration and avant-garde currents in art.

The painter found her way into the circle of the Polish artistic colony and quickly established herself in the Parisian art world thanks to favourable critical reviews. From her debut in 1902, she regularly took part in exhibitions in France and Poland, gaining recognition for her original style as a fresh, young, mobile talent and outstanding individuality , according to the "Tygodnik Ilustrowany".

The first French holiday spent in Brittany resulted in a long-standing fascination with the seascape and the inhabitants of this rugged land. These two themes became recurring themes in Mela Muter's work. Her sensitive observation of nature and man, filled her views of Brittany with the truth of the place and the people. Breton women and at the same time saints posing for the Holy Family were painted by Mela Muter during one of her Breton plein-airs.

Polish painter in Catalonia - a great success

In 1911. Mela Muter meets the famous Catalan art dealer Josep Dalmau i Rafael, owner of a gallery in Barcelona, who turned the city into an international centre for contemporary art. Working with him was a distinction and a great opportunity for Mela Muter. [Photo 3]

Mela Muter's exhibition turns out to be a huge success, even a sensation. It attracts additional attention when the author of one of the reviews attributes the artist to a circle of Russian women painters working in Paris. Muter immediately reacted to this with an emotional and firm letter to the editor: 'I am Polish, I was born in Warsaw and my parents were also Poles. [... ] Poland, divided between Russia, Germany and Austria, has not relinquished its national identity, despite losing its political independence. It is gaining even more attention for this, as a representative of a nation struggling for independence, much like Catalonia.

The Barcelona Museums Board purchased two of the thirty-three works on display: The Blind Man and Portrait of the Painter Leopold Gottlieb . The following year it replaced the portrait of the painter with The Holy Family .

Memory of Mela Muter in France

The painter spent the rest of her life in France. She took an active part in artistic life as a noted portraitist, sensitive landscape painter, sensitive still life painter and member of French art associations. She continued to create and exhibit until the end of her long life. Mela Muter is survived by almost all her relatives and friends. She dies on 16 May 1967 in Paris, in her studio.

Bolesław Nawrocki junior, looking for Parisian traces of his father, found the elder Mrs Muter in 1958. In fact, he had always known her - his father Bolesław had portrayed the painter in Paris in 1903 - her potrait hung in his family home. Nawrocki junior funded a Parisian nude for Mela Muter, adding the inscription "To the great Polish painter" to the side of the tall tumulus.