Manel Pujol Baladas | "The Potatoes in Your Pot" | Mixed Media and Collage on Canvas (1992) | Collection of 18 Certified Works

A large-format oil and collage depicting the material consolidation stage of Catalan artist Manel Pujol Baladas. An energetic work with an earthy palette where the classical representation of still life — the bottle and the pot — undergoes an aggressive expressionistic deconstruction. Through an absolute mastery of the palette knife and volume, the canvas captures the force of contemporary informalism, integrating the physicality of paper and printed text directly into the pictorial plane.

History and Curatorial Analysis

The weight of the Spanish School and the legacy of geniuses

The career of Manel Pujol Baladas (Vic, 1947) functions as a fundamental historical bridge between the Spanish avant-gardes of the second half of the 20th century and international contemporary art. Trained at the rigorous Massana School in Barcelona, his technical and conceptual development is closely linked to his relationship with the three great figures of Spanish art: Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí. Pujol Baladas assimilated from these masters supreme technical skill and creative freedom with respect to the medium.

His relationship with Salvador Dalí was particularly profound. Pujol Baladas' technical ability reached such a magnitude that he actively collaborated in pictorial execution within the master's studio in Empordà, perfectly mimicking his stroke. This absolute skill earned him the nickname "Dalí's forger" in the press of the time, a media term that, rather than denigrating him, highlights his unparalleled technical virtuosity, a necessary prior step before definitively breaking with figuration to forge his own material language.

Three-dimensional construction and chromatic tension

In "Las patatas en tu olla" (The Potatoes in Your Pot) (1992), Pujol Baladas rejects the docile linearity of classical still life. The artist transforms the canvas into a sculptural relief object by using a dense collage of crumpled newspaper sheets as a substrate, whose text fragments peek out from between the paint, anchoring the work to everyday reality in a clear inheritance from Picasso's synthetic cubism.

On this fractured base, the painter applies dense impasto through violent gestural execution. The figurative elements — the potatoes, the pot, and the glass bottle — are not outlined, but rather sculpted with thick strokes of black and white pigment that forcefully define the volumes. The chromatic palette abandons cool tones to embrace warm colors, earths, ochres, and rust reds, generating a rustic dramatic effect of great forcefulness where light physically emanates from the reliefs sculpted in the pictorial matter.

Why is this piece an opportunity for your collection?

• Investment Argument and Tax Appraisal: The greatest commercial asset of this piece is its solid financial protection. The work comes with its original certificate of authenticity (M.P.B. No. 0124) issued and signed by the artist himself. This document includes an official valuation issued by the SAT (Mexican Tax Administration Service) for 640,000 Mexican pesos, equivalent to over 32,190 euros. Having an institutionalized valuation of this caliber from the tax authority reduces speculative risk and provides an undeniable asset value floor.

• Exclusive Collection: This large painting is part of a closed and rigorously selected lot of 18 works certified by the artist, currently available at Acolección, offering the opportunity to acquire a coherent set to structure a private collection.

• Historical Pedigree: Acquiring this canvas means owning the work of an artist present in international museums who absorbed his craft working directly in the environment of Dalí, Miró, and Picasso.

• Material Force and Large Format: With imposing dimensions of 92 x 73 cm (corresponding to the standard French format 30 F), the piece acts as a gravitational center in any room. Its size and radical physicality give it an architectural presence.

Technical Data Sheet

• Artist: Manel Pujol Baladas (b. 1947).

• Title / Theme: Las patatas en tu olla (Contemporary Expressionist Still Life).

• Technique and Support: Mixed media and material collage (newspaper) on canvas.

• Dimensions: Work: 92 x 73 cm (Format 30 F indicated on the stretcher).

• Year: 1992.

• Signature: Signed and dated "M. Pujol Baladas 92" in the upper left corner.

• Provenance: Private collection (Part of a set of 18 certified works for sale).

• Documentation: Original Certificate of Authenticity (M.P.B. No. 0124) signed by the artist, including official SAT Mexico appraisal for 640,000 MXN (approx. 32,190 EUR).

• Condition: Excellent structural condition. The pictorial matter, the dense base collage, and the impasto maintain perfect adhesion to the support. The rear stretcher is completely stable.

• Inspection Guarantee: 3 calendar days guaranteed return to inspect the work in person and verify its resounding pictorial quality and its accompanying documentation at Acolección.

The Workshop Note

In the contemporary art market, it is extraordinarily unusual to find canvases of this magnitude (30 F format) where plastic audacity is backed by such a high level of financial certification. The fact that a tax authority has officially valued this work at over 32,000 euros makes this canvas an undeniable safe-haven asset. Its value is twofold: on the one hand, the history of a master of overwhelming technique who painted alongside Dalí; on the other, a document that legitimizes the work as a first-rate investment. It is a seminal piece, with a striking aesthetic and warm palette, essential for collectors who demand cultural pedigree and patrimonial profitability in the same acquisition.