MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE BILBAO
Museum presenting important collections of paintings, engravings, sculptures and decorative arts, from the 12th century to the present day
Founded in 1908, the Museum of Fine Arts has occupied its present location since 1945, when it merged with the former Museum of Modern Art. To house its collections, a new neoclassical building was constructed in the Ensanche, on the edge of the Doña Casilda de Iturrizar park. In the 1970s, the museum expanded with the construction of a modern building inspired by the architecture of Mies van der Rohe. Today, the museum occupies almost 14,000 m², housing the 33 rooms of the permanent exhibition as well as temporary exhibitions. It presents important collections of paintings, prints, sculptures and decorative arts, covering a long period from the 12th century to the present day. The collections are organized around two main themes: ancient art, with a focus on Spanish painters (El Greco, Zurbarán, Goya) and Flemish and Dutch painting from the 15th to 17th centuries; and modern and contemporary art, with a fascinating section devoted to Basque artists of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries: Zuloaga, Jorge Oteiza, Eduardo Chillida... Among the museum's highlights are Ribera's Saint Sebastian cared for by the Holy Women, Gauguin's Washing Women in Arles, Zuloaga's Portrait of the Countess of Noailles and Miquel Barceló's Pumpkins. An extension to the museum by Norman Foster is scheduled for completion by the end of 2024.
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