Joaquín Torres-Garcia was a painter and theoretician that, from the 1930s on, helped disseminate the abstract-geometric tendencies throughout Latin America. He studied in Barcelona and lived for many years between Spain and France, where he was one of the organizers of the Cercle et Carré journal, between 1929 and 1930. The journal presented texts on art and architecture of constructive orientation. In 1934, Torres-Garcia went back to Montevideo, where the publication was relaunched under the title of Círculo y Cuadrado (1936-43), and founded in 1935 the Asociación de Arte Constructivo [Association of Constructive Art]. The work in the MASP collection precedes this period. However, it already announces the intentions of his “theory of constructive universalism,” such as the overlapping of organic and geometric forms, and the search for a sensation of movement in the representation of still scenes. Church in Terrassa was painted during the years he lived in the village of Terrassa, next to Barcelona. The painting represents the rear of an architectural ensemble with a cathedral, houses, and walls. Torres-Garcia opted for not representing the facades, but rather the backs of such constructions, thus building through this uncommon perspective a feeling of intimacy with the place. The clear sky contrasts with the dark shades of the walls; the wind points to the left, conducting both clouds and cypress trees; the large brushstrokes bring variation to the shades of the blocks, creating a landscape that is all the while dynamic and very peaceful.

— MASP Curatorial Team, 2017

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