“Qui és la Gauche Divine?” is an exhibition that gathers some of Colita’s photographs that were displayed in Sala Aixelà in 1971, as part of the exhibition “La gauche qui rit”, censored during the Franco regime.

In the 1970s, one of the most fashionable places in Barcelona was Boccaccio nightclub, which became a meeting point for some of the most famous people in cultural life both at home and abroad. Actors, writers, painters, architects, philosophers, politicians and fashion designers mixed in a social life of leisure and modernity. They were known by the name of “Gauche Divine”. Joan Manuel Serrat, Maria del Mar Bonet and Jorge Herralde are some of the personalities captured through Colita’s lens. 

In 1971, in Sala Aixelà in Barcelona, Boccaccio organized an exhibition entitled “La gauche qui rit” with photographs by Colita, to show who the personalities of this “Gauche Divine” were. The exhibition, consisting of 70 portraits, was censored the day after its inauguration. The word  “Gauche” in the title of the exhibition and the personalities on display seemed subversive in those years of the Franco dictatorship.

Now, “La gauche qui rit” is back on display thanks to the UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM), which, in travelling exhibition format, has recovered some of the photographs of the people that Colita portrayed and were part of the intellectual life of Barcelona during the last years of the Franco regime.

“Qui és la Gauche Divine?” can be visited at the UPF-BSM in the Balmes building until the end of October and then it will tour Pompeu Fabra University’s three campuses.