The Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the sixth center to exhibit "L'esperit català", by Tàpies, a work of the Museo Universidad de Navarra
The other centers have been the MEAC in Madrid, the Tàpies Foundation and the MACBA in Barcelona, the Valencian IVAM and the Serpentine Gallery in London.
It is a work from the Museo Universidad de Navarra Collection, donated by the Navarre collector María Josefa Huarte. The Museo Universidad de Navarra building, designed by Rafael Moneo, is being built on the Pamplona campus of the University of Navarra and will be officially inaugurated in early 2015.
L'Esperit Català will be exhibited from April 9 to June 30 at the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, within the program"The Invited Work". At the presentation ceremony for the media, to be held on Wednesday, April 9 at 11 a.m. in room 32 of the Bilbao museum, will take part: Miguel López-- Remiro, director of Museo Universidad de Navarra, and Javier Viar, director of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. They will be accompanied by Charo Huarte, the person who represents Maria Josefa Huarte.
In this monumental work, Tàpies creates an urban wall as a place of political and personal expression, reflecting Catalan life in the last years of Franco's regime. The four vertical stripes of the Catalan flag furrow the wall, and the painting is full of inscriptions. In general, these are open messages of spiritual and political renewal: dialogue, social equality, democracy, truth, culture.
Tomás Llorens, member of the Board of Trustees of the Museo Universidad de Navarra Collection and also of the Artistic Advisory Commission of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, who accompanied the collector in numerous acquisitions, emphasizes her passion for Tàpies. "That this work is integrated in a collection developed far from the political dimension, indicates the enormous breadth of mind of the collector". And she continues: "beyond whether or not it is a work related to a historical moment, it is also, and before that, a work of art. In the same way as Guernica: it transcends historical circumstances, because above all it is a work of art history". This is what Llorens said in a lecture he gave at the University of Navarra, when talking about this piece as part of the program of events of the "Art Collecting Forum" that the center organized in March 2012.
María Josefa Huarte donated her entire art collection - about fifty paintings and sculptures - to the University of Navarra in 2008. She did so with the intention of "rooting the collection in Navarre, and helping to place this community in the European cultural mainstream".
The text of the donation agreement already encouraged the establishment of relationships with other museums and collections, highlighting the interest of "seeking synergies and mutual enhancement with other centers that share the objectives of promoting art in society, researching it and disseminating it, paying special attention to the museums closest to us". Thus, with the loan to the Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the wishes of the collector from Navarre are fulfilled and the Bilbao museum becomes the sixth center to exhibit this emblematic work by Tàpies, a key piece in the entire legacy.
In addition to four other Tàpies, the legacy of María Josefa Huarte consists of works by Spanish artists such as Pablo Picasso, Jorge Oteiza, Pablo Palazuelo and Eduardo Chillida, among others, as well as international artists such as Kandinsky and Mark Rothko.
The Museo Universidad de Navarra Collection also includes an important photographic collection, the result of a previous donation, that of the photographer José Ortiz-Echagüe. It is thus clear that the future museum will be a space for collectors.
Exhibitions, in chronological order:
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Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art, MEAC, Antoni Tàpies. Retrospective Exhibition, Madrid 28 May-August 1980.
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Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Tàpies. Comunicació sobre el Mur, Barcelona 23 January-29 March 1992.
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Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, IVAM, Centre Julio González, Tàpies. Comunicació sobre el Mur, Valencia 14 April--7 June 1992.
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Serpentine Gallery, Tàpies. Comunicació sobre el Mur, London 19 June--9 August 1992.
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Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, MACBA, Tàpies en Perspectiva, Barcelona 18 February--9 May 2004.
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Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, La Obra invitada, Bilbao April 9--June 2014.