The fitst monographic exhibition in Spain to be devoted to Avigdor Arikha (Rumania, 1929), an artist appreciated by a small group of collectors and art lovers. Arikha is a passionate defeder of "painting form life", based on first-hand observation. The exhibition includes an extensive selection of his paintings and drawings and continues the Museum´s plicy of devoting exhibitions to contemporary art.

Image:
Avigdor Arikha
Anne in summer, Jerusalem, 20rd July 1980
Oil on canvas, 46 x 61 cm
Private Collection

This exhibition presents a survey of Miró´s work in th period between 1918, the year of his first solo exhibition, and his death in 1983. The guiding concept is a recurring theme in his work: the earth. In contrast to other art historical interpretations which have emphasised the artist´s links with Surrealism, the present exhibition will focus on his fidelity to rural and pagan life, his fascination with excess, fecundity -including sexuality- and death. Seen from this viewpoint, Miró´s work in the second half of his life acquires greater importance than is usually acredited to it.

Image:
Joan Miró
The Tilled Field, 1923-1924
(La Terre labourée)
Oil on canvas, 66 x 92.7 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 72.2020
© Successió Miró, 2008

Organised by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Fundación Caja Madrid

The period inmediately prior to the outbreak of war in 1914 coincided with a highpoint of activity among the avant-garde movements. In addition, the experience of World War I exercised a powerful influence on the work of numerous artist during this period. Featuring around 180 works, this exhibition offers a survey of the development of new international art between approximately 1913 and 1917. Through the work of dozens of artist from the main artistic movements of the day -Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Abstraction, etc.- it reflects this artistically conflictive period. The exhibition looks at the different trends in new international art at this time; the role that the avant-garde assumed in relation to the events of the war (often a prophetic or apocalyptic one); and the way that the new cultural languages were able to express pro-war attitudes or denunciatory ones in the face of the madness of the conflict.

Image:
Giacomo Balla
Patriotic Demostration, 1915
Oil on canvas, 101 x 137.5 cm
Museo Thyssen Bornemisza

The 22nd exhibition in the Contexts of the Permanent Collection series will be devoted to Pieter Saenredam (1597-1665), one of the most notable painters of the 17th century, swo devoted much of his oeuvre to the depiction of buildings, seen from both inside and outside. Saenredam was also a pioneer in his investigation of perspectie and in his use of preparatory sdetches and measurements taken in situ, which provided the starting-point for his paintings. These practices distinguish him from his predecessors and from other contemporary artists. Saenredam produced numerous preparatory sketches in Haarlem where he lived, and he also moved to other villages and cities such as Assendelft, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rhenen and Alkmaar in order to draw and take measurementes. This exhibition will offer a surey of his work and will include his finest and most exquisitely painted compositiones created over the course of his career.

Image:
Pieter Jansz Saenredam
The West Front of the Mariakerk, 1662
Oil on panel
65.1 x 51.2 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Fundación Caja Madrid

The aim of this exhibition is to offer a broad overview of the concepts, issues and solutions involved in the depiction of shadows in art from the Renaissance to the present day. The exhibition is organised into two closely related sections. Firstly, it presents a comprehensive survey of the work of artists and movements who have depicted and used the element of shadow in various ways from the Renaissance to the late 19th century. These range from symbolic connotations and the way that Renaissance artists studied and used perspective to the representation of light and shade in Impressionism, also looking at the spectacular way that tenebrist Baroque painters used this element as well as its incorporation as a crucial narrative element in the Romantic and post-Romantic periods. The second part, which will be shown in the exhibition space of Fundación Caja Madrid, opens with a section on “lights and shadows in modern art” and analyses these elements were represented during the 20th century. This section pays special attention to the manner in which they were projected in Surrealist games and their important role in German Expressionism. The other sections in the second part offer a survey of the multi-media and light-hearted use of shadow play, from the photography of Man Ray and André Kertész to recent installations by Christian Boltanski, also looking at cinema in the work of Murnau, Orson Welles and Peter Greenaway.

Image:
Christian Schad
Portrait of Dr Haustein, 1928
Oil on canvas, 80.5 x 55 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid