Brisbane, Australia.- Following its exhibitions in Japan, China and Russia, The Prado will be a portrait of the Museum through the great masters in its collections in Australia. The Museo del Prado has entered into a collaborative agreement with Art Exhibitions Australia (AEA), a non-profit-making body responsible for the organisation of major exhibitions in Australian museums, and with the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane. “Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado” will be shown at the Queensland Art Gallery through November 4th. This is the first exhibition that the Prado will hold in that country and is part of its “International Prado” programme that has already involved the presentation of exhibitions in Japan and China in previous years, as well as the one currently to be seen at the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. With this new exhibition, the Museum will present for the first time in Australia a survey of the history of Spain and Spanish art from the 16th century to the early 20th century through a group of works comprising 80 paintings and around 20 works on paper.
“Portrait of Spain. Masterpieces from the Prado” will present around 100 works with the aim of encouraging a reflection on the evolution of painting in Spain over the course of more than three centuries and on the internal and external factors that influenced it. To explain this development, the exhibition will be presented in chronological order, focusing on three major periods with clearly defined political, social and artistic characteristics: an initial section covering the years 1550 to 1770, which coincides in political terms with the Ancien Régime and in cultural terms with the so-called Spanish Golden Age. This will be followed by a section spanning the last quarter of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, which was a “critical” period with important shifts in mindsets, political organisation and forms of social relations. Finally, there will be a section on the last fifty years of the 19th century, the period that saw the birth of modern Spain. Within each period the exhibition features works by the leading artists of the day as well as examples of the most characteristic themes and subjects that distinguish each period from the others. As a result, the visitor will not only learn about the stylistic evolution of Spanish painting but also how thematic interests changed over time and how new subjects were introduced. The works in the first section are grouped under the headings “Portrait and Power: monarchs and buffoons”, “Mythology as the Language of Power”, “Painting and Religion” and “Secular Society: the still life”.
While most of these themes continued to be present in later centuries they are represented here in the section that corresponds to the period of their greatest influence over the formulation of art in Spain. In the case of the second section (“1770-1850: A changing world”) the headings are “Images of a Society”, “Portrait and daily Life” and “Reason and Madness”, the last comprising graphic work by Goya that covers aspects of art and thought in Spain at that time that cannot be represented through paintings. The last section (“1850-1900: On the threshold of modern Spain”) will reveal how the country itself, its history landscape and literature were the subject of artistic reflection by painters, many of whose works express the links that they felt with Spanish artists of the past. This section includes the headings “Defining the traditional Image of Spain” and “Spanish Painting looks at itself in the Mirror”. Among the artists represented in the exhibition are El Greco, Ribera, Zurbarán, Velázquez, Murillo, Valdés Leal, Carreño, Paret, Van der Hamen, Meléndez, Goya, Vicente López, Federico de Madrazo, Rosales, Fortuny, Beruete and Sorolla. There will also be paintings by foreign artists working in Spain or directly influenced by Spanish painting, such as Titian, Anthonis Mor, Rubens, Luca Giordano, Houasse, Tiepolo and Mengs.
The Queensland Art Gallery is Queensland’s premier visual arts institution and a leading art museum nationally. The Gallery’s driving philosophy is to connect art and people. The Gallery was established in 1895 as the Queensland National Art Gallery. Throughout its early history the Gallery was housed in a series of temporary premises, and did not have a permanent home until the opening of its current architecturally acclaimed building on Brisbane’s south bank in 1982. Since opening, the Gallery’s Collection, exhibitions, audiences and programs have grown in size, complexity and diversity. To cater for the community’s future needs, during the 1990s the Gallery embarked on extensive research and wide consultation, resulting in the concept of a second building. The Gallery of Modern Art, which opened in December 2006, complements the Queensland Art Gallery building. Situated at Kurilpa Point only 150 metres from the Queensland Art Gallery building, the Gallery of Modern Art focuses on the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Gallery’s flagship project is the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art series of exhibitions, now a major event on the national and international arts calendar. The expertise developed from staging the Triennial for over a decade has led to the establishment of the Australian Centre of Asia-Pacific Art (ACAPA), to foster alliances, scholarship and publishing, and the formation of an internationally significant collection of art from the Asia-Pacific region. Similarly, the Gallery is committed to profiling Indigenous Australian art and strengthening relationships with Queensland’s Indigenous communities. The Gallery is also recognised as an international leader in presenting innovative museum-based learning programs for children. These programs are coordinated through the Children’s Art Centre. To ensure all Queenslanders have access to the Collection, travelling exhibitions tour to regional and remote centres of the state. Visit the museum’s website at … http://qag.qld.gov.au/