Miquel Barceló’s Bot Buit (Empty Boat) belongs to his evocative series of sea-inspired works created during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rendered in swirling, textured layers of deep blue, the canvas mirrors the rhythmic, untamed movement of the sea, while a singular, abstracted white boat, thickly encrusted in paint, emerges as a ghostly yet striking presence. The title, which translates to ‘empty boat’ in Catalan, underscores the sense of solitude and introspection that permeates the series. Barceló, who spent the pandemic in his native Mallorca, drew on the rare stillness of the island during this time. With the absence of tourists, the natural world was given a chance to recover, offering Barceló a renewed connection to the sea – an ever-present source of inspiration in his life and work.

For Barceló, the act of painting is intrinsically linked to his experience of diving, as he describes the parallel sensations of immersion and stillness: “To float in space, you are parallel; in the sea it happens down there.” In Bot Buit, this meditative quality is palpable, with the vast expanse of blue symbolising the boundlessness of the ocean and the isolation of the human experience during the pandemic. The empty boat becomes a poignant metaphor for the period’s paradoxical serenity and solitude, embodying a world simultaneously marked by quiet restoration and profound uncertainty. Through his richly textured, encrusted surfaces, Barceló captures not only the essence of the sea but also its ability to reflect and amplify the human condition.