Damià Mateu
Damià Mateu Bisa
ENTREPRENEUR, PROMOTOR AND COLLECTOR
(1864-1935)
This year marks the 150 anniversary of the birth of Damià Mateu, one of the most important figures of the Catalan bourgeoisie during the first third of the twentieth century.
The tribute exhibition will delve deeper into the family aspect and the homes where he lived, like the Casa Comalat on Barcelona’s Avenida Diagonal, the Mas Rossell and the modern La Miranda home in Llinars de Vallès, and Mas Rifer in Montseny, as well as into Mateu as the catalyst behind his son Miquel’s purchase of the Castillo de Peralada.
We will have insight to the companies with which he was connected, his political relationships and his friendship with King Alfonso XIII, as well as his support of the “Diario de Barcelona” newspaper and his passion for collecting and nature. Damià Mateu took over the management of “Hijo de Miguel Mateu” and turned it into one of the most important metal companies in Spain, with offices in Barcelona and Valencia. He ensured the power supply to Barcelona by helping create FHASA (Fuerzas Hidroeléctricas de Andorra, S.A.), which represented a major economic boost for the Principality thanks to the construction of its first paved roads as compensation for the concession.
In 1904 Damià Mateu created “La Hispano Suiza, fábrica de Automóviles, S.A.” with businessman Francesc Seix and Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt. They opened the doors to this auto manufacturer on Calle Floridablanca in Barcelona, opening a new location in La Sagrera in 1911 and later others in Levallois (France), Bois de Colombes (Paris) and Guadalajara. La Hispano was a leader in auto and aviation technology and became one of the crucial elements in the Allied air supremacy in World War II.
Finally, the tribute exhibition provides a vision of a passionate Damià Mateu, a patron of the arts and one of the great private collectors of twentieth-century Catalonia, evidenced by his creation of the Museum of Chinese Art at the Palau de Pedralbes, his acquisition of part of the seventh-century Visigoth treasures from Torredonjimeno (Jaén) and Castiltierra (Segovia) and different Mallorcan archaeological pieces as well as the purchase of cameos and tapestries from large private collections in Europe.