LEÓN.- Collection, emotion, and history shape the 2026 programme at the MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León. The study and activation of the MUSAC Collection form the core of the programme, with the exhibitions Is There No Place Like Home? and Quasi-Systems.
Two solo exhibitions by leading figures on the Spanish art scene—painter Carlos León (Ceuta, Spain, 1948) and multidisciplinary artist Ana Laura Aláez (Bilbao, Spain,1964)—will shape the summer season.
The year concludes in November with a major exhibition devoted to Michelangelo Pistoletto (Biella, Italy, 1933), a central figure in the development of postwar contemporary art and one of the founders of Arte Povera.
The MUSAC Collection at the centre of the programme
The programme opens with a new annual reading of the MUSAC Collection curated by Monserrat Pis Marcos. Titled Is There No Place Like Home?, the exhibition examines the evolving concept of home at a time when housing has become one of the most pressing social concerns in Spain.
Bringing together 45 works by 25 international artists, the exhibition approaches “home” as an unstable and multifaceted notion shaped by social conditions, cultural expectations, emotional experience, and lived realities.
From 6 June, Quasi-Systems presents a selection of works from the collection exploring the role of systems in contemporary art. Artists include Ai Weiwei, Julieta Aranda, Lara Favaretto, Joan Fontcuberta, Piero Golia, Candida Höfer, Julie Mehretu, Mitsuo Miura, Ian Monroe, Pedro Mora, Julian Opie, and Vik Muniz.
Summer programme
On June 6, MUSAC presents a solo exhibition by Carlos León, a key figure in Spanish painting and an important reference for younger generations of artists, at a moment of renewed interest in his work.
Titled Place of Praise, and based on research by curator Fernando Castro Flórez, the exhibition revisits works produced over recent decades, from León’s garden paintings to his most recent pieces.
The show brings together works on canvas, dibond, and wood, highlighting both the vitality and technical precision of León’s work while offering a broad view of his contribution to the Spanish artistic landscape.
Completing the summer season is a reinterpretation of Sculpture Pavilion (2008) by Ana Laura Aláez, one of the most monumental works in the MUSAC Collection, developed in collaboration with the artist for the iconic architecture of MUSAC's Gallery 6.
The work explores sculpture and architecture through the use of emptiness. Sculpture Pavilion. Shelter and Exposure invites visitors to move through polished aluminium structures, creating a perceptual experience that marked a turning point in the artist’s practice.
A major Michelangelo Pistoletto exhibition in autumn
From November, MUSAC presents a major exhibition dedicated to Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the most influential figures in contemporary art in the second half of the twentieth century and a driving force behind Arte Povera.
Between 1961 and 1962, Pistoletto produced his first Quadri specchianti [Mirror Paintings], works that incorporate the viewer and real-time reflection, opening a new understanding of perspective by overturning the Renaissance model.
These works brought him international recognition and led to numerous exhibitions across Europe and the United States during the 1960s. The Quadri specchianti became foundational to his later artistic and theoretical practice.
Curated by MUSAC director Álvaro Rodríguez Fominaya, the exhibition traces the evolution of the mirror in Pistoletto’s work from the 1960s to the present. It also includes key sculptures and installations, such as Venere degli stracci [Venus of the Rags] (1967), a powerful critique of consumer society.
