A Visit to the Museum Dionis Bennassar, Pollensa

The museum is also home to the Dionis Bennassar foundation which looks to preserve and display the complete collection of work by the artist as well as using the space to host other temporary exhibitions and events.

Born in Pollenca to a peasant family in 1904 Dionis Bennassar showed a great aptitude for art from an early age, his parents although not understanding the artistic ambition allowed him to move to Palma to study art alongside working as an electrician, he did not enjoy the academic atmosphere of Palma however and returned to Pollenca. At 18 he joined the army and fought in the war in Morocco, where he was shot in the right collarbone, an injury which left his right hand damaged leading him to pursue his artistic visions using his left.

In the 20’s Pollenca became a hub for artistic types drawn to the beautiful and inspiring landscape, Bennassar met and befriended several artists who were to shape his artistic personality and to help further his career, most noticeably Tito Cittadini who became his great friend and presented Bennassar’s first solo exhibition in the Galleria Costa in Palma in 1940 which received great reviews. In the museum hangs a portrait of Bennassar which was painted by Tito Cittadini, and in which he looks a solemn and studious character.

Beautifully light and airy, the building has been remodelled to transform it into an art gallery and new exhibition rooms added however you can still see remnants of the home it once was especially in the down stairs rooms where original furniture has been kept, the rooms still display the original fireplaces and you can see out into the enclosed courtyard around which the house is built. The main rooms are dedicated to Bennassar’s arguably most important works his oils on canvas which were the focus of much of his later work and are beautiful in their rich use of colour and texture, the smaller rooms house his watercolours, sketches, inks and sculptures. The foundation has retained as well as the completed works of the artist also his preparatory sketches, drawings, notebooks and correspondence, and upstairs is a display of an unfinished canvass in a replicated work station.

Bennassar loved Pollenca and it’s people and despite having many opportunities to move away and to travel he chose to spend his life here, where he derived great pleasure in painting the people and landscapes of his home, many of his works reflect Pollenca, Cala Sant Vincenc, Formentera and L’Horta. He painted a range of subjects, the fishing boats, beaches and people of his home but also a series of imaginative and richly coloured underwater depictions of fish, submerged people and almost mythical beings. He also painted nudes in various settings and a collection of dancing girls with skirts hoisted up and suspenders on display. There are several self-portraits throughout the gallery in which he looks forever sombre and then strangely a caricature of himself so out of keeping with the rest of the collection as to make the observer smile. Bennessar died in 1967 and has been posthumously been given many awards including being named an Illustrious Son of Pollenca.

The gallery is a beautiful place to wander around, admission costs €2 and is free for children under 13, open Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 2pm. You will be given a pamphlet detailing Bennasar’s life to read as you wander which is available in several languages, the gallery also houses a small gift shop in which you can purchase books and prints of the artist’s work as well as trinkets and souvenirs of your trip.

Read more about Mueums on Mallorca.