Sim Acquisition, Drawing and War

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José Luis Rey Vila, "Wounded Militiawoman and Soldier." Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. On deposit from the Government of Catalonia. National Art Collection.

Over the past few years, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya has placed special emphasis on artistic creation during the Spanish Civil War. This focus has been reflected in acquisitions such as the Helios Gómez collection in 2025 and the Sim collection in 2024, which includes nearly one hundred drawings by the artist José Luis Rey Vila, known as Sim.

Painter, draftsman, poster artist, and illustrator, he became especially renowned as one of the most important visual chroniclers of the war, when he began using this pseudonym. From the outset of the conflict, he witnessed armed confrontations, producing a large number of notes and drawings made almost always from life. Through the Professional Designers’ Union (Sindicato de Dibujantes Profesionales, SDP), he was in contact with artists such as Antoni Clavé and Carles Fontserè.

In this selection, quick and vigorous sketches predominate, usually in pencil or charcoal. Unlike other, more colorful works, this set is more neutral and austere, with minimal touches of color. With a rapid and often sketch-like line, Sim captures the gestures of the various actors in the conflict and builds a mosaic that can be applied to any war: the military bearing of the soldier, the fighting on the battlefield, the chaos of bombings, or the civilian population in retreat.

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