Muralist “Mono” González inaugurated a large mural in tribute to Neruda and the Winnipeg in Barcelona

A mural in homage to the poet Pablo Neruda and the ship Winnipeg was inaugurated in the city of Barcelona.

This is a work by muralist Alejandro “Mono” González, who worked with Roc Blackblock, a young Catalan muralist.

Both artists bring their styles together in the mural “Ship of Migrated Peoples,” a piece that was inaugurated on Saturday in Plaza Pablo Neruda, in the Eixample district of Barcelona.

The work was a joint production between the Barcelona City Council, the Division of Cultures, Arts, Heritage and Public Diplomacy (DIRAC) and the Embassy of Chile in Spain.

Generosity

The painted mural was inaugurated by the district councillor Jordi Valls and by the Chilean ambassador to Spain, Javier Velasco.

The Catalan authority said it was one of the three largest and most important murals in the city and recalled the Chilean poet’s act of generosity towards Republican refugees from the Spanish Civil War.

The Chilean ambassador also highlighted the collective nature of Chilean muralism and that this mural is also a tribute to the Republican exiles who managed to transform Chilean society.

The iconic Paco Ibáñez sang at the event and the authors of the work were honoured.

Chilean and Spanish authorities at the town hall prior to the inauguration of the mural.

The artists spent two weeks painting this mural, a project specifically managed by the cultural attaché Germán Berger, which was financed by the BCN city council and supported by the travel and stay of the national artists from DIRAC.

“This is a tribute to the Winnipeg, a ship that Neruda managed to save thousands of Spanish refugees from the Spanish Civil War. This year marks the 85th anniversary of that ship’s voyage. It is both a reflection on today’s migrants and also has to do with the Chilean exiles of the Pinochet dictatorship…. The location of this mural, near the Sagrada Familia, is for us who paint on the street, a huge opportunity for visibility… it is like an open museum,” said “Mono” González.

Berger stressed that the project promoted by the Chilean embassy in Spain almost two years ago “is an important achievement for our culture and in particular for our visual arts.”

“From today, our political muralism, which in some way embodies ‘Mono’ González, has a leading role in a city as emblematic as Barcelona. It is also an exercise in memory, which reminds us that Chile welcomed thousands of political exiles in 1939, that it was Pablo Neruda, who carried out diplomatic work, who managed this ship and that a young health minister, called Salvador Allende, was the one who received the refugees in Valparaíso. Among others, children who would later win national art prizes came on that ship, such as José Balmes and Roser Bru. A very different Chile that should make us reflect on what we are today as a society,” he said.

This year, 2024, marks the 120th anniversary of Neruda’s birth, the centenary of the first publication of his book “20 poemas de amor y una canción desesperada” (20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair) and the commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the landing of the Winnipeg in Valparaíso, a ship that carried more than 2,000 Republican exiles to Chile and was organized and financed by the poet.

In this context, the documentary: “Chile Estyle” (Dir. Pablo Aravena | Documentary | 81′ | 2022 | Canada) was also screened at the Cinemes Girona, Barcelona in collaboration with Casa Amèrica Catalunya.