The MNAC has added to its collections with a drawing in charcoal and white pencil lead that Joaquim Mir (1873-1940) did in 1898, when he was busy working on the painting The Beggars' Cathedral.

The work on paper now entering the Museum is a work of great historical importance and high artistic quality, as it is not a partial study or a note but shows a polished figurative treatment and is considered one of this artist's best drawings. This valuable work complements and helps understand the creative process behind the emblematic painting The Beggars' Cathedral, which forms part of the Carmen Thyssen collection and is currently exhibited in the rooms of the MNAC's permanent collection. The chance to contemplate the two works side by side showcases their artistic qualities. The MNAC's collections already included drawings by Joaquim Mir, though none of such importance. In this respect, the addition of this work fills a gap in the Museum's collections.

Mir's drawing reveals certain elements that foreshadow the birth of Catalan modern art. The composition combines social issues with a new language, in which we recognise the sensibility of the second Modernista generation, the one that produced the Colla del Safrà (Saffron Group), made up of artists like Ricard Canals, Isidre Nonell and Joaquim Mir himself.