In the heart of Parc de la Ciutadella, sculptor Josep Llimona offers an intimate, restrained portrayal of grief. Desconsol depicts a female figure, hunched over, absorbed in the surrounding silence.
Carved from marble and resting on a white base, her soft, rounded forms contrast with the coldness of the stone. Her face, hidden beneath her hair, remains inaccessible, while only the lightly intertwined hands hint at the emotional tension within.
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Josep Llimona sculpted Desconsol in 1907, though the original model was created twenty years earlier and caused quite a stir: the female figure’s openly dejected pose broke with the restrained sentimentality of the era.
At the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), you can see Llimona’s original piece, for which he was awarded a prize at the 5th International Art Exhibition in 1903.
