"I saw a poster on your website yesterday..."
The visitor looks around the gallery.
They walk slowly along the walls, stopping here and there, smiling at a destination they know, discovering another they had never heard of.
Then comes the question.
"I can't find it. Do you still have it?"
It makes us smile every time.
Because that simple question reveals a common assumption: that everything a gallery sells should be hanging on its walls.
In reality, galleries have never worked that way.
A Gallery Is Not a Catalogue
A museum may own tens of thousands of works while exhibiting only a few hundred.
A library may contain thousands of books that never appear on the front table.
An antiquarian bookseller keeps treasures hidden on shelves that visitors only discover by asking.
A gallery works in much the same way.
The walls are not an inventory.
They are a conversation.
Every artwork on display has been chosen because it says something about the artist, the collection, the season or simply because it feels right at that particular moment.
If we tried to display all of our artworks simultaneously, the gallery would quickly become overwhelming.
Instead of inviting curiosity, it would become visual noise.
Sometimes, showing less allows visitors to see more.
The Joy of Asking
One of our favourite moments is when someone asks:
"Do you have...?"
Sometimes it is a place.
"Do you have Brighton?"
"What about Kathmandu?"
"Did Alecse ever create one for Arugam Bay?"
Other times it is something much more personal.
"I'm looking for somewhere my parents spent their honeymoon."
"We got engaged in Sicily."
"My daughter studied in Kyoto."
Those conversations are often far more interesting than simply pointing at a wall.
They tell us something about the person standing in front of us, and they often lead to discoveries neither of us expected.
Someone who came looking for Barcelona might leave with Sitges.
Someone searching for New York may fall in love with Havana.
Someone convinced they wanted Paris may suddenly discover that the place carrying the strongest memories is actually Étretat.
That is one of the pleasures of visiting a gallery instead of scrolling through an online catalogue.
More Than 1,300 Stories
Today, the MyRetroPoster catalogue includes more than 1,300 artworks by Alecse and Cha.
Together they have explored more than 130 countries, iconic cities, hidden beaches, architectural landmarks, decorative collections and imagined worlds.
Some posters are among our best sellers.
Others may only find a handful of collectors each year.
Yet every artwork has its own story and its own audience.
One of the freedoms of remaining independent is that we do not have to judge every creation solely by how many copies it will sell.
Sometimes a place deserves a poster simply because it inspired the artist.
And sometimes the person who has been waiting years for that destination eventually walks through the door.
Why We Prefer Printing on Demand
The obvious solution would be to print hundreds of copies of every design and fill shelves with stock.
Many companies do exactly that.
We deliberately chose a different model.
Printing only what people actually want allows us to keep creating new destinations without needing enormous storage space or producing thousands of posters that may never leave their tube.
It also allows a relatively small gallery to offer one of the largest catalogues of independent travel posters anywhere.
The walls remain curated.
The catalogue remains almost limitless.
The Best Poster May Not Be on the Wall
Thanks to our local production, many artworks in our S and M formats can be prepared quickly for visitors who discover them online or through our catalogue.
In Barcelona, most designs can usually be collected within around thirty minutes.
In Sitges, orders placed before 6:30 pm are generally ready the following day.
Larger formats can also be ordered directly from either gallery and shipped almost anywhere in the world.
But perhaps that is not the most important thing.
The real pleasure lies in knowing that behind every wall hangs an invisible gallery of hundreds of other destinations, waiting for someone to ask about them.
So next time you visit us, don't assume that what you see is all there is.
The perfect poster for your memories may simply be the one that isn't on the wall yet.
Planning a last-minute gift? We’ve explained how this service works in more detail in our article Last-Minute Art Gifts in Barcelona & Sitges.
