Rêve de vol

February 2019

According to Pablo Palazuelo’s handwritten notes, the execution of the sculpture was planned based on a zinc model conceived in 1967, of which numerous photographs taken by his brother Enrique Palazuelo remain. The catalogue of the exhibition of the artist’s work at Galería Maeght in Barcelona (1977) referred to the final presence of four versions in different finishes: polished aluminium, polished brass with nickel coating, iron, and aluminium with a golden coating.
The notes seem to refer to the project for the production of four copies of each one, although only the four single originals mentioned above were finally produced. The artist contemplated the double title “Homage to Gaston Bachelard” (the subtitle of another sculpture, “Élan formé” (1977), and apparently not of “Rêve de vol”). The larger sized one was subsequently produced for the Fundación Juan March collection (No. 0430E).

Like other modern painters since Impressionism (Degas, Renoir, Wouters, Modigliani, Matisse, Picasso, etc.) Pablo Palazuelo embarked on sculpture after having attained full pictorial maturity. There is not, in our time, a distinct border between the various plastic arts preventing artists from crossing from one field to another, and even interweaving them, as one can find in other works belonging to this collection; but when Palazuelo, a rigorous man, sets down the brush it is because he intends to create sculpture, pure and simple, without any pictorial additions. It is clearly apparent that one thing he does not renounce is his own style, rigorous to the point of asceticism. Nor does he forgo the contours of his planes, in which regular geometry appears to be subjected to long and diverse pressures, inflicting upon them a slight distortion, a gentle erosion of the angles, removing their aggressiveness without taking away their strength. But what we are witnessing is an ambition to occupy space, to limit and order it, that is entirely and exclusively sculptural. In this “Dream of a Flight”, which half envelops a piece of empty space, but which extends its wings in an urge to dominate infinity, two essential functions of every sculpture are fulfilled: filling up a place and evoking a space, offering a form and a balanced, stable volume, while affording the viewer the possibility of imagining it in movement, dreaming of its unfettered flight.
Julián Gállego, “Arte Español Contemporáneo colección de la FUNDACIÓN JUAN MARCH”, Madrid, 1979, quoted in exhibition brochure unpaged
An architecture student from Madrid, like Eduardo Chillida, Pablo Palazuelo met the Basque sculptor at the École d’Espagne in Paris’s Cité Universitaire, during the 1948-49 academic year.
Both embarked then on a path towards abstraction. Palazuelo initially opted for a rigorous style of painting, based on what one might call a sensualist geometry rooted both in the models afforded by nature and in the depiction of psychic spaces or musical harmonies, endowing his works with a sense of occult mystery. Thus, Palazuelo distils paintings in which large smooth surfaces of saturated colours can be distinguished. His works, though apparently simple, are based on complex theoretical concepts that the artist himself has been able to discuss and explain in his writings.
At a certain point in time, these surfaces, outlined with fine blunt lines, need to develop outside the inherent flatness of the pictorial painting and unfold in real space, becoming sculptures. “Dream of a Flight” is one such work, in which a flat sheet of stainless steel, suitably cut out and folded, acquires a spatial dimension and a distinct material character. Upon extending, its planes not only occupy a volume but claim around them a space that prolongs beyond each of its planes, which, like the smooth wings of a bird, require air under them to set it in motion. The rigorousness of his painting is compounded in his sculptural work by impeccable finishes and materialisation, lending it particular appeal. (J. M.)
(Juan Manuel Bonet and) Javier Maderuelo, “Catálogo. Museu Fundación Juan March. Palma”, Fundación Juan
March-Editorial de Arte y Ciencia S.A., Madrid, 2009, p. 114

observations

Base designed by the artist: 95 x 41 x 52 cm

Exhibitions

• GALERÍA MAEGHT BARCELONA 1977, cat. No. 2 “Escultures”, quoted cat. unpaged (technique: “acer inoxidable polit”, no dimensions given).
• Fundación Juan March, Arte Español Contemporáneo colección de la FUNDACIÓN JUAN MARCH, Madrid, 20 March29 April 1979, col. ill. unpaged, b/w ill. In exhibition brochure (unpaged, p. 11) and colour slide in the slide catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition (n/c)
• Fundación Juan March, Arte Español Contemporáneo en la Colección de la Fundación Juan March, Madrid,
  7 October-1 December 1985, col. ill. unpaged, p. 63, cat. unpaged, p. 99 (titled “Sueño de vuelo”; dimensions:
  70 x 175 x 75 cm)
• Fundación Santander Central Hispano, Rumbos de la Escultura Española en el Siglo XX, Madrid, 2 October-18 November 2001. Itinerante a Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 13 December 2001-10 February 2002, n/c, col. ill. p. 139, cat. p. 252
• BANCA MARCH 2010, cat. No. 82, col. ill. p. 151 and 65, quoted p. 158, cat. p. 177 (titled “Sueño de vuelo”)
• FUNDACIÓN FRANCISCO GODIA 2012, cat. No. 78, (2) col. ill. pgs. 34-35 and p. 192, b/w ill. p. 12 (photograph by
  L. Jiménez of Pablo Palazuelo with the model of the sculpture), quoted p. 192, cat. p. 215 (titled “Sueño de vuelo”)
• MUSEO PABLO GARGALLO 2013, cat. No. 68, quoted cat. n/r (photograph by L. Jiménez of Pablo Palazuelo with the model of the sculpture, titled “Sueño de vuelo”)

Literature

• JULIÁN GÁLLEGO, “Arte Español Contemporáneo colección de la FUNDACIÓN JUAN MARCH”, Madrid, 1979,
  quoted in exhibition brochure unpaged
• Multiple Authors, “Exposición de arte español contemporáneo”, La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 15/IX/1981, quoted p. 32
• Multiple Authors, “Exposición de arte español en la Fundación Juan March”, ABC, Madrid, 15/IX/1981, quoted p. 34
• JULIÁN GÁLLEGO, “Arte Abstracto Español en la Colección de la Fundación Juan March”, Fundación Juan March,
  Madrid, 1983, quoted p. 142
• Multiple Authors, “Comienza la muestra itinerante de arte abstracto”, ABC, Madrid, 14/VI/1983, quoted p. 47
• Multiple Authors, “Exposición de arte español contemporáneo en Segovia”, ABC, Madrid, 2/X/1983, quoted p. 53
• JUAN MANUEL BONET AND JAVIER MADERUELO, “Museu d’Art Espanyol Contemporani. Fundación Juan March.
  Palma de Mallorca”, Fundación Juan March-Editorial de Arte y Ciencia S.A., Madrid, 2003, cat. No. 21, col. ill. and
  quoted pgs. 62-63, cat. p. 165
• CHEMA DE FRANCISCO, “Obras de una colección”, Fundación Juan March, Boletín No. 353, Madrid, XII/2005,
  b/w ill. p. 3 (titled “Sueño de Vuelo”)
• JUAN MANUEL BONET AND JAVIER MADERUELO, “Catálogo. Museu Fundación Juan March. Palma”, Fundación
  Juan March-Editorial de Arte y Ciencia S.A., Madrid, 2009, col. ill. p. 115, quoted p. 114 and 27
• JAVIER MADERUELO, “Pablo Palazuelo. El plano expandido”, Abada, Madrid, 2010, ill. No. 7, b/w ill. p. 122 (titled
  “Sueño de Vuelo”)
• TERESA SESÉ, “Dibuixos fets escultures”, La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 10/X/2012, col. ill. p. 39 (photograph of the
  sculpture by Mané Espinosa)
• IMMA PRIETO, “El espacio como interlocutor”, La Vanguardia, Barcelona, 17/X/2012, quoted p. 20
• LAURA REVUELTA, “Palazuelo, desplegado”, ABC, ABC Cultural, Madrid, 17/XI/2012, col. ill. p. 28
  Photograph: courtesy of Fundación Juan March Photograph: Álex Casero