Abstract

This article aims to read El picadero (1974) by Adolfo Couve from the perspectives of the collection, the museum and the mausoleum. The nouvelle presents an art gallery under the context of a portrait-characters exhibition. These, become objects of collection and, at the same time, collectors of objects. The impulsive and obsessive desire of the characters to possess material and immaterial goods is due to timeless pleasure of getting new belongings, waves of happiness that make their lives less tortuous. In that way, the characters turn Villacler'a house into a museum, however, it ends up being reduced to a mausoleum since most of the characters die.