The story of refugee children and an exiled sculptor
In the book A foreign country, by Miquel Berga, there is a story that moves us. It is the story of two children who were taken in in Tossa, along with other children who had lost their families or had to flee the war. These children were lucky enough to meet the sculptor Enric Casanovas and his wife, Leonor Guerri, who protected them and accompanied them to Besançon, a city in France where they arrived after many vicissitudes.
In Besançon, the children’s colony found a temporary refuge, but also a new separation. The children were repatriated to Mexico or Paris, as the case may be, and the Casanovas family was left alone, living off the generosity of neighbors (a watchmaker, a Jewish officer). But what we didn’t know is that in Besançon there was a hidden treasure, some paintings that the sculptor made for the Casa del Poble, commissioned by the trade unionists who helped him in exile.
Paintings that celebrate workers and trades
Casanovas paintings occupied 25 meters of wall and showed scenes of working life, in a realistic and emotional style. They were murals that vindicated the strength and dignity of workers and trades, murals that reflected everything the artist had learned and experienced in exile. But these paintings were forgotten for years, until a small publication was published in 2016 to raise funds for their restoration. The paintings were moved to the Museum of Time in Besançon, where they are waiting to see the light again.
The Museum of Time, a place where children and artists meet
The Besançon Time Museum is a unique place, where clocks, scientific instruments and works of art related to time are preserved. It is a place where time stands still and recovers, where children and artists who suffered from the war are reunited and consoled. It is a place where Miquel Berga’s book and Casanovas’ paintings tell us about a foreign country, but also about our country.