What do two works by Picasso do in a town of 2,500 inhabitants of Granada

What do two works by Picasso do in a town of 2,500 inhabitants of Granada. Because it is so; In Salar, in the Loja region, they have been in his five years, in his Ethnographic Museumtwo pieces by Pablo Picasso. Specifically, it is a picture and a ceramic vessel.

These two works arrived at the museum fruit of the will of the director of the Mijas Contemporary Art (CAC) CenterJavier Fructuoso, who wanted to encourage art in those places that are not a tourist epicenter. But everything starts a little earlier. He Granada Archaeological Museum He had decided to stay with two Venus that were found in the remains of the Roman town of the town. They were taken despite the request by the City Council of Salar to stay there.

So, from Mijas they understood that they had to take a hand and just a few hours after the news of the loss of the Venus became public, the Malaga museum contacted the Consistory of Salar to make them available.

The call surprised the mayor of Salar, Armando Moya (IU-for people). “I think they were believed to be a joke,” recalls Francisco Javier Fructuoso, director of the Cac de Mijas. But it wasn’t. Just a few hours after the residents of this town of Poniente Granadino saw how the Venus of their Roman villa went to the capital of the province, Fruitos took note of the name of the municipality and decided to do something about it.

Goodbye, Venus; Hi, Picasso

“I do not know what the Board needs everything that comes out of there,” he says, in reference to the decision to keep the sculptures by the Archaeological Museum, under the Ministry of Culture of the Andalusian Government. “They could have left them in salt. It would have been right. ” As not, Mijas decided to intervene.

The CAC of Mijas opened its doors in 2013 and is managed by the Remedios Medina Foundation. It is not a museum with great resources, to the point that the building in which it is located was ceded by the Mijas City Council itself, but it does have a broader collection than it can expose in its three rooms. “We have a bunker, as we call it, with many works that we could share,” explains Fructuoso. From that background, they selected two pieces of Picasso and offered them to exit without asking for anything in return. “If we can help someone, delighted,” he says.

The transfer of the works also had no cost to the municipality. It was Fructuoso himself who took the pieces in his private vehicle until he extends, with no more claim than contributing to the people not to lose all their cultural attraction. “We don’t charge anything or ask for anything,” he emphasizes. “The important thing is for art to remain alive and accessible.”

Art that revitalizes

The arrival of the works to the ethnographic museum was a small revulsive for the municipality. “It has served us, together with the Roman town, to give visibility to the people,” admits the mayor. Since in 2020 the assignment was made, the Salar Interpretation Center has been gaining tourist attraction, with some 12,000 annual visits. The entrance, which costs five euros, includes access to the Roman Villa and the Museum, where Venus is still exposed, although now in the form of a replica. “We want to continue collaborating and working on this,” adds Moya.

The relationship with the CAC of Mijas is still alive. Fructuoso has initiated conversations with the Consistory of Salar to renew the works, replacing them with others and thus maintaining the interest of the public. “If people have already seen those who are, we can change and put others,” he proposes.

The City Council, on the other hand, maintains its goal of consolidating a museum in conditions and that in the future is larger to host, for example, the exhibitions that the CAC of Mijas is willing to give in. “We have bought the plot and we have the project, but the financing is missing,” explains the mayor. The key may be in the works of the AVE, since Adif has expressed its commitment to invest in complementary projects in the area, argues the councilor.

It is not the first time

Mijas’ cac’s commitment to the dissemination of art has not been limited to salt. In the past, they have organized exhibitions in places as diverse as Belgium, Luxembourg, Turin or even Dubai. In 2012, from the foundation that manages the center they carried a collection of 97 works to the A&M University of San Antonio, in Texas.

“The pieces that are in Salar have traveled to the United States before,” says Fructuoso, highlighting the importance of traveling in art conservation and promotion. They have also worked on national projects, such as the exhibition in the Hermitage of the Nava, in Huelva, where Picasso, Dalí and Miró picos floated on metal structures in a deducted space turned into a cultural center.

Fructuoso insists that its goal has always been to share art with as many people as possible. “To have them stored, you better enjoy the people,” he defends. In addition to Salar, the CAC of Mijas has lent works for exhibitions in different cities and has facilitated access to its collection to smaller museums that cannot always allow the acquisition of pieces of great value.

Meanwhile, in a corner of Granada, a picture and a vessel of Picasso are still waiting for those who want to discover how they got there. A story with an expiration date because the will of the museums of Salar and Mijas is to make a new exchange of works in just a few weeks.