José Luis Rey Vila, known as Sim, was one of the most important frontline artists of the Spanish civil war, yet his legacy has been largely overlooked. A new exhibition at Barcelona’s Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) showcases 40 of his recently acquired illustrations, bringing his work back into the spotlight 90 years after the conflict began.
Sim’s sketches, characterised by bold, blocky lines and intense colours, documented the urgency and movement of war. He captured anarchist militias in street battles, weary soldiers, nurses tending the wounded, and milicianas raising their fists. His work was widely reproduced in booklets and exhibited internationally, raising awareness before Picasso’s Guernica.
Born in Cádiz, Sim studied art in Gibraltar and served as a navy gunner in the Rif war, an experience that turned him into a pacifist. He settled in Barcelona, but on 19 July 1936, the day of Franco’s coup in the city, he grabbed his sketchbook and rushed to the streets. He witnessed fierce clashes, drawing barricades, blood-spattered bandanas, and vehicles with anarchist flags.
Sim offered his sketches to the Sindicat de Dibuixants, but was rejected due to his anarchist sympathies. Instead, the anarchist CNT-FAI published his work in Estampas de la Revolución Española 19 Julio de 1936. The following year, the Catalan government published 12 Escenas de Guerra.
After the war, Sim went into exile in Paris in 1937 and died in obscurity in 1983. Historian Morris Brodie notes that getting art out of Spain was extremely difficult due to the non-intervention pact and border closures, requiring smuggling through illicit channels.
