Ateneu Barcelonès. Statue of Athena

Commissioned by the Ateneu Barcelonès in 1975, this bronze sculpture portrays Pallas Athena — the Greek counterpart of the Roman Minerva — equipped with her traditional attributes: spear, shield and high-crested helmet. The animated posture of the figure departs from the more frontal, static representations of the goddess found in classical art. Its creator, Lluís Montané Mollfulleda (Sant Celoni, 1905-1997), trained alongside Eusebi Arnau and worked within the tradition of Noucentisme.