"This exhibition that we are presenting is a notable event, as it is the first major Cardona Torrandell show in Barcelona since the 1980s. Moreover, it is the first display in the city of a significant selection of his early pictorial period that began in 1957, when he had his first show at the Galeries Laietanes. That exhibition, which launched Cardona on his artistic career, marked the start of an extremely intense life given over to painting, but it was also an unusual event. As we look back with hindsight, we can see that Cardona Torrandell’s early days were atypical, to put it plainly. A young man who was utterly unknown in cultural circles in the city, who only painted as a hobby, burst onto the Catalan art scene. Prior to that moment, he was known only for his intense – albeit buried – devotion to writing, but not in the slightest for any artistic leanings."

Bernat Puigdollers, 2022

Photo: Cardona Torrandell, Gat-mussol, 1957 (detail)