HELSINKI.- What is the first thing Spain brings to your mind? Is it perhaps light, heat, holidays or beaches? These mental images are strongly associated with Spain. Spain Beyond the Myths, the exhibition at the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, examines the associations with the country and how Spanish artists have played their part in actively building them.

“The art of the great Spanish masters such as Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) and Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) are well known here in Finland. By contrast, Spanish nineteenth-century painting is barely known at all, and we want to put it on display,” Museum Director Kirsi Eskelinen says.

The exhibition will be the first to acquaint the Finnish public with Spanish nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art to such a broad and diverse scale. It includes famous artists of the period, such as Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838–1874), Lluís Masriera (1872–1958) and Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923).

Spain has fascinated European travellers since the eighteenth century. The mental imagery of Spain arose in the interaction between travellers enamoured with the country and the local artists who reflected their associations. A strong cultural identity can be sensed in the paintings on display. The works show the country’s exoticism and themes which highlight local traits. Today, travellers from around the world, inspired by these associations, continue to look for the authentic Spain.

The exhibition displays both depictions of mythical Spain and paintings reaching towards a new era. The producer of the exhibition is c2c Creación y gestión de proyectos culturales, S.L., from Spain, and the curators are the art historians Helena Alonso and J. Òscar Carrascosa. The Museum’s curator is Salla Heino.

Enthralled by the exotic

Andalusia was a destination for many travellers as early as the nineteenth century. The region’s landscapes, cultural mix and local traditions fitted the mental images of Spanish exoticism well. Paintings which idolized Andalucian themes were particularly successful on the European markets.

Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838–1874) was one of the greatest international masters from Spain in the nineteenth century. He achieved particular success with his Orientalist themes. Many followed in Fortuny’s footsteps, adopting his painting styles, themes and international influences. One popular theme in Orientalism was idealized female figures, odalisques. The odalisques’ attractive personas were considered interesting and mystical in art, even though in practice these Oriental concubines were also bought and sold.

In Spanish art, popular themes also included romanticized everyday situations, paintings depicting moods and local customs, and religious themes. The exhibition displays garment peddlers, a decorative and ephemeral painting of a shoe fitting at a cobbler’s, a barber’s visit depicting city life, and a landscape of cyclists on a break depicting a new kind of leisure time.

Just as travellers came to Spain to experience the exotic, Spanish artists went abroad to search for and depict new cultures. They particularly favoured European centres of art such as Paris and Rome. The influence of a mythical Spain came with them, but in the experimental atmosphere of the artistic hubs, many artists found a more international form of expression.

Seekers of light

The Mediterranean light brought artists from all over Europe to the Spanish coast. Valencia and Catalonia were particular sites of trends focused on the study of light. The artist friends Joaquín Sorolla (1863–1923) and José Navarro Llorens (1867–1923) were excited by painting en plein air and fleeting moods, reminiscent of the Impressionists. They are known as masterful depicters of light and water.

“Sorolla’s art reflects international influences. His paintings draw the viewer’s eyes to the creative use of colour and the artist’s fascinating ability to capture light and mood. In addition, Sorolla was a prized portraitist,” says curator Salla Heino.

The atmosphere of Rome and Paris at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries shaped Spanish art in the direction of Modernism. From traditions and stereotypes, landscapes and the modernizing world received space in the themes of the artists of the new era.

Exhibition curated by:
Helena Alonso, C2c, art historian
J. Òscar Carrascosa, C2c, art historian
Salla Heino, Sinebrychoff Art Museum, curator