From the Autumn 2015 issue of RA Magazine, issued quarterly to Friends of the RA.

From its heavenly height up in the mountains above Barcelona, the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat has been central, since the 9th century, to the spiritual life of Catalonia. Now its church of Santa Cecilia has opened up to the transcendent abstract art of Sean Scully RA, inviting the Irish-born painter, who has worked in the city for over 20 years, to install works permanently inside its Romanesque walls. As well as six large oils, he has painted frescoes and produced stained-glass windows, crosses, chandeliers and a retrochoir: a total work of art in synthesis with the sacred space.

Sam Phillips (@SamP_London) is Editor of RA Magazine.

Watch a video of Sean Scully RA in conversation with Tim Marlow in Venice.