La Verge de Montserrat is a statue of the Virgin Mary and her son found in Catalonia in the eleventh century in which both characters are depicted as “Black.” This female figure occupies a particular position in current Catalonia since she is considered the patron saint of the country and constitutes one of the symbolic cornerstones of Catalan nationalism. Through the concept of “iconic path,” this article tracks the formation and evolution of this image in Catalonia from its inception until the present day, bringing special attention to the roles and significances that it has acquired within the context of the current pro-independence movement. We also draw a comparison between the “lives” of this image in Catalonia and its development in other countries, namely Puerto Rico, Equatorial Guinea and Sardinia. In each of these places, the image of the goddess has been reinterpreted according to local viewpoints. Yet these conceptualizations are not fixed or homogeneous, but radically dynamic and problematic. The iconic paths of images diverge and converge across time giving birth to new creative exercises. Through this approach, our aim is to propose a relational and processual model for the study of religious images, and images in general, as historical objects.

La Verge de Montserrat 是 11 世纪在加泰罗尼亚发现的圣母玛利亚和她的儿子的雕像，其中两个角色都被描绘成“黑色”。这位女性形象在当前的加泰罗尼亚占有特殊地位，因为她被认为是该国的守护神，是加泰罗尼亚民族主义的象征性基石之一。通过“标志性路径”的概念，本文追踪了这一形象在加泰罗尼亚从开始到现在的形成和演变，特别关注它在当前支持独立的背景下所获得的角色和意义移动。我们还将这张图片在加泰罗尼亚的“生活”与它在波多黎各、赤道几内亚和撒丁岛等其他国家的发展进行了比较。在这些地方的每一个，女神的形象已根据当地的观点进行了重新诠释。然而，这些概念化不是固定的或同质的，而是从根本上动态和有问题的。图像的标志性路径随着时间的流逝而发散和汇聚，从而催生了新的创意练习。通过这种方法，我们的目标是提出一种关系和过程模型，用于研究作为历史对象的宗教图像和一般图像。