Art News

Huge Mural of Spain Returns to Renovated NY Museum

NEW YORK, NY (REUTERS).- A huge mural, the largest-ever of Spain in modern history, returns this week to a long-neglected Manhattan museum that has been renovated with grants from Spain. “Vision of Spain,” which consists of 14 panels that together measure 230 feet by 11.5 feet was painted nearly a century ago by Joaquin Sorolla, Spain’s pre-eminent painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The 14 panels, which showcase 10 regions of Spain and include large brush strokes painted with huge brushes, took Sorolla eight years to complete. “The painting sparkles with energy,” said Mitchell Codding, director of the Hispanic Society, which will display the work at its renovated museum at the northern end of Manhattan. “It captures the dusty, dry air of Castile, the vivid colors of a fair in Seville and the glistening skins of tuna fish being dragged onto a seaside