FRANCISCO ZURBARÁN'S "SAINT FRANCIS IN PRAYER" ARRIVES AT THE SPANISH MUSEUM OF ABSTRACT ART TO INAUGURATE AN EXHIBITION
As a part of the De gira por España (Touring Spain) cycle that the National Museum of the Prado celebrates for its bicentennial - during a month a painting of special relevance of the collection of the Prado Museum leaves its usual space to visit different museums of the country-, the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art of Cuenca receives in its rooms Francisco de Zurbarán’s San Francisco en oración (Saint Francis in prayer, 1659). Between the 22nd of January and the 17th of February Zurbarán’s artwork will give place to Un maestro antiguo entre artistas contemporáneos: Zurbarán en el Museo de Arte Abstracto Español (An ancient master among contemporary artists: Zurbarán in the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art) exhibition.
From the museum of Cuenca, they have expressed the importance and the pride that means to introduce in a museum focused on the abstract art a seventeenth century artist like Zurbarán. "It is an unbeatable occasion to see the attraction that the Prado Museum has exercised in twentieth-century art: the impact and influence in the current art of some of its most representative artists -El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo, Goya or Velázquez- it has been remarkable, "they explained. Likewise, the names walk through in the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art collection such as Antonio Saura, Soledad Sevilla or Manuel Millarres, have been manifested, historically, with admiration towards the Prado Museum.
Taking into account these relations between both museums, the San Francisco en oración arrival is not at all casual and should not be overlooked. The work of Zurbarán will be exhibited in the so-called Sala Negra (Black Room) in front of the Homenaje a Zurbarán (Tribute to Zurbarán, 1970) by Gustavo Torner. In addition, two other tributes to the artist of the Spanish gold century artist will dialogue with the work of the Prado: one by Josep Guinovart (1964) and another by Gerardo Rueda (1965). We could say, in some way that these four works - the three tributes and the San Francisco en oración - are the central axis of the exhibition that opens tomorrow.
From there, Un maestro antiguo entre artistas contemporáneos: Zurbarán en el Museo de Arte Abstracto Español presents artworks by Manuel Hernández Mompó and Fernando Zóbel, among others. With a closing date on February 17th, the exhibition that will be held at the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art is a privileged opportunity to understand the dialogue between two museums and the influences that one generation of artists deposits directly on another.
