A new exhibition has opened in Valldemossa to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Coll Bardolet Cultural Foundation, showcasing previously unseen works that reveal the artist’s most cosmopolitan and adventurous side.
Titled “Coll Bardolet, an unknown traveller. From exotic Morocco to rural Mallorca”, the exhibition highlights how landscapes, cultures and light from different countries shaped his creative identity. During the opening ceremony, the Vice President and Minister of Culture and Heritage, Antònia Roca, underscored the exceptional value of the pieces displayed, including travel notebooks, early works created in Mallorca —on loan from the Lluc Sanctuary— and works from private collections and family archives. Together, they present a deeper and more personal perspective on the artist’s sensitivity and his unique way of portraying Mallorca.
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Exhibition unveils the globetrotting spirit of painter Coll Bardolet
The inauguration also featured a lecture by Felio J. Bauçà, professor at the University of the Balearic Islands and a close friend of Coll Bardolet. He revisited the travels that influenced the painter’s life and career, a friendship also reflected in the book Hotel of the Artist, for which Bardolet wrote the prologue.
A visual journey through the world — and through Mallorca
The exhibition, which remains open until January 2026, traces the artist’s creative path from his early drawings in Vic and Olot to his travels throughout Morocco, Norway, Italy and Switzerland, while also paying tribute to Mallorca, the island that became his artistic refuge. Among the highlights is a previously unseen photo album from around 1946, containing scenes of daily life in Mallorca.
A collective tribute to his legacy
The curators of the exhibition —Olga Coll Vila, president of the Foundation and family member of the artist; Jaume Bernat Adrover Artigues, director of the Foundation; and Maria Ramis Mulet— have played a crucial role in recovering and contextualising this lesser-known chapter of Coll Bardolet’s artistic heritage, now revealed to the public.