A history of love
Catalonia's Museu d'Història presents different visions of love and marriage throughout the ages in the exhibition, T'estimo?, which runs until May 22
It was not until the 1930s that brides began to get married in white. A decade earlier dresses had often been pink or yellow. Before that they were black. Until the second decade of the 20th century most women had only one good dress to wear for special occasions, and that was usually the dress they would be buried in. It is unusual to learn such things from visiting an exhibition, but until May 22 the Museu d'Història de Catalunya has T'estimo? Una història de l'amor i el matrimoni (Do I love you? A history of love and marriage).
The museum's new director, Jusèp Boya, promised a change of air at the museum when he arrived and this exhibition is an example. Boya's strategy is to turn the museum into a forum where disciplines can interact, reflecting Catalonia but also relevant to the wider world, and dealing with the past but saying something about today.
The exhibition is an overview of how love and marriage have changed since antiquity. The two concepts have not always gone together, and curator Xavier Roigé says that in Roman times, for example, “marriage was a bureaucratic process, an agreement between families.” In such societies, love and sex were another thing entirely: “It was something totally natural. The idea of sin did not exist,” he says. In those times, everyday life was impregnated with erotic symbols, and this exhibition has many examples, from lanterns and drinking glasses to a tintinnabulum, an amulet in the shape of a phallus that was hung over the front door to bring good vibes to the household.
The classical world was one completely open to sex –albeit far more for men than for women– which was crushed by the advent of Christianity. Under the control of the Church, marriage became a sacred institution that was entered into for a lifetime. The arrival of the concept of brotherly love at the heart of Christian theology brought an end to the sexual freedom of the ancients. However, history goes on and courtly love soon appeared, adding a further layer to the paradigm of love: “Troubadours did not sing for their wives, but for their lovers,” says Roigé.
The exhibition dedicates a good section to pastoral love, a style to which Catalonia's rural society made a significant historical contribution. It is here that marriage returns as a tool to reinforce family and financial interests, albeit with other peculiarities, such as the malicious reactions of the community whenever someone stepped outside of the rules. A bell from Val d'Aran, which makes a great impression on the exhibition, was used to poke fun at widows who were forced to seek refuge in the family home or for women of dubious reputation who managed to find a husband: “The country people would spend all night outside their houses making a racket,” says the curator. In the rural world, love and marriage did not necessarily get on, completely the opposite to the ideal of romantic love, which began with the upper classes and spread to the rest of society. At this point, the two concepts became indissoluble.
Different models of love
As to be expected, the exhibition also covers the sexual revolution of the 1960s. However, before that, the show takes its time exploring such things as prostitution in Barcelona, and it features the front door of the famous brothel, La Casita Blanca, as well as pornographic publications from the 19th century. Eusebi Planas's drawings are unmissable; they were fortunately preserved in the library in Ripoll. However, the exhibition displays the least scandalous examples to protect children: “The thing is that there are some that are pretty strong,” says Boya. The exhibition reaches today and dives head-first into the main characteristic of our times: the wide range of options, including virtual ones. With its many different models of love and relationships, getting married in the 21st century is limited only by one's imagination, so that the average cost of a wedding these days can be as much as 14,500 euros. However, before the crisis began, in 2005 tying the knot would have set you back 26,000 euros on average.
The long road to civil marriage
Reinforced by religion, marrying outside of the church was only allowed during very brief periods in Spanish history, during the first and second republics and since 1977. It was a different situation in the rest of Europe: in the UK, civil marriage was introduced in 1563 and, in France, in 1792. In fact, another highlight of the exhibition is the display dedicated to the first civil marriage in Spain, which took place in Reus in 1868.