PONCE, PR.- A selection of works make up the exhibition Wise Men from East: The Magi Portraits by Rubens, which opened to the public in the Museo de Arte de Ponce from the 3rd of November to the 9th, March 2015. The exceptional art exhibition invites people to explore a specific period of one of the world’s greatest painters.

More than a dozen works illustrate the relationship between the painter and one of his best friends, Baltasar Moretus, who led the most important printing business of this time. “The works that Rubens painted for Moretus show us an intimate and less known facet of the artist”, explained the Curator of the exposition, Pablo Perez d’Ors, Curator of the exhibition.

Moretus, who suffered from hemispheric paralysis from birth, bought from Rubens a special series of paintings without precedent in the history of art: Three small individual portraits of Three Magis. These works have not been seen together for more than a century

The painting representing the oldest of the Magis was acquired in 1962 by Museo de Arte de Ponce. The African Wise Man, an integral part of the collection from the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, travelled to Ponce in order to enrich the exhibition. The third Wise Man, currently at the National Gallery of Art in Washinton D.C., cannot leave the museum given certain legal limitations. However, Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell created a representation of this Wise Man in order to complete all three.

Wise Men from the East serves as a threshold to the reunion of the three paintings, since in March 2015 all three will be exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

The exhibition also explores the origins of how the Three Wise Men are portrayed, and their relationship with engravings that recount different versions of the Wise Men painted by Rubens.

For more information about the Three Wise Men or to coordinate a visit to the Museum, you can call 787 840 1510.