The promising exhibition ‘From El Greco to Zuloaga. Masterpieces at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum’ has already been inaugurated at the Fine Arts Museum of Seville.
It is an exhibition that will bring together some thirty major works by Goya, El Greco, Zurbarán and Murillo, among others, and will run until March 16, 2025.
Specifically, both pieces come from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, which is in the process of being expanded by architect Norman Foster.
The Sevillian art gallery is hosting a selection of 26 paintings and two sculptures representative of the quality of the collection of Spanish school works from the 15th to the 20th centuries kept by the Basque museum. Some of these works, in fact, will be seen in Andalusia for the first time on the occasion of this collaboration.
From El Greco to Zuloaga’, four centuries of Spanish art
José Luis Merino, curator of Ancient Art at the Bilbao Museum, is responsible for the selection of the collection that covers four centuries of Spanish art, with a focus on portraiture and religious art.
El Greco, Zurbaran, Murillo, Paret, Goya, Zuloaga and the sculptors Juan de Anchieta and Juan Pascual de Mena will be some of the masters that this exhibition will bring together throughout 2025. Likewise, a special place will be given to those painters who, like Ignacio de Iriarte or Francisco de Herrera Viejo, among others, developed their careers in Seville.
One of the most outstanding novelties is La plaza de toros de Sevilla, by Mariano Fortuny, which will be presented to the public for the first time.
In addition, the Regional Ministry of Culture and Sports has published a catalog for the occasion with an essay by the curator José Luis Merino Gorospe, which includes expert commentaries on the works.
A great opportunity to bring together in the Sevillian art gallery such significant works of national heritage beyond those already on display in its permanent exhibition. The transport and assembly service, to be executed in five months, amounts to 185,747 €, according to the documentation provided by the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Andalusian Regional Government.
In the words of the Councilor Patricia del Pozo, the bet lies in “placing the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville in the place it deserves for its history and the relevance of its collections, being a fundamental institution for the culture of Andalusia and Spain”.