Zurbarán, the great interpreter of the ‘Divine Metaphysics’, looks in the mirror of contemporary art

The Catalan Museum, in collaboration with the Musée Des Beaux Arts de Lyon and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, has gathered for the first time the three replicas that the author made between 1635 and 1645 of ‘San Francisco’s vision by Pope Nicolás V’. Seeing them together is getting lost in a fascinating mirrors that gives the feeling of movement and life beyond matter. «It produces a very intense aesthetic experience. Let’s say this is an immersive, but analog sample. Multiply our stimuli, ideas and experiences, ”says àlex Mitrani, conservative of contemporary art of the MNAC and one of the commissioners of the exhibition.

The famous Zurbarán painting part of the episode or legend of the day when Pope Nicholas V requested to see the mummified body of the saint in the crypt of the Basilica of Assisi. He Baroque painter He decided to simply offer the subjective image of the body that the Pope would have seen during that day. The game with light, space and volumes make San Francisco’s body seem to rise and abandon the earthly sphere for the last time, looking to the sky with reverence. And this was done by the artist of the Golden Age three times. «It is of a disconcerting modernity. Zurbarán makes a zoom in this narrative scene and puts us in the place of what the Pope should have felt when he saw the body of San Francisco, ”says Mitrani.

A restoration that rediscovers the picture

The MNAC owned table has also been the object of a detailed restoration, which has allowed to recover its original appearance. Acquired in 1905the trace of the painting ends here, at the beginning of the 20th century. Its last origin is a mystery. The work has managed to recover depth to the painting, rescuing a background that was previously hidden under several replacements. “It’s as if we first saw him after 120 years,” says Pepe Serra, director of the MNAC.

The exhibition also has a dozen more of Zurbarán paintings, both from the MNAC’s own collection, and private collectors, and museums and the Prado, among others. It highlights, for example, the first public exhibition of the table ‘The Virgen de la Merced with two mercenaries’that the Prado acquired last January worth 650,000 euros. “The involvement of the Prado has been absolute and has allowed us to complete an exhibition that perhaps does not have many works, but whose exceptionality is absolute,” says Serra.

In this way, we can see the ‘Bodegón with pots‘In the possession of the MNAC with the’ Bodegón with Cuarros’ of the Prado and admire in the repetition the subtle differences of approach that help to investigate more in the Zurbarian creation. «This game manages to focus our gaze on the relevant detail. Repetition is a fundamental part of the liturgy and ritual and looks at us in the most significant subtlety, ”says Mitrani.

Contemporary art and Baroque art

The exhibition is complemented with a series of works by contemporary artists that allow to see the validity of the influence of the great Baroque painter. In this way, we see Matérica pieces of Tàpies or Alfons Borrell with pictures like ‘Blessed Enrique Susón ‘from 1636, or ‘San Francisco in Prayer ‘of 1659. “The way in which the exhibition combines ancient and contemporary art manages to suggest a union of the times that helps us better understand both ancient art from the contemporary and vice versa,” says Joan Yeguas, conservative of art of the Renaissance and Baroque of the MNAC and another of the commissioner of the exhibition.

At the same time, the exhibition brings together works expressly created for the occasion, such as an installation based on fabrics by Eulàlia Valldosera or a series of Antoni Full drawings. From here, highlights a still life of Tony Catany, exposed next to the impressive ‘AGNUS DEI‘of Zurbarán; or Marta Povo’s photographic works that play with light and shadows as focuses of spirituality. “The public who arrives without knowing much about Baroque art can understand it much better thanks to this game with contemporaneity,” concludes Yeguas.

The exhibition, which can be seen until June 29, opens with an appointment of San Juan de la Cruz: “Interview where I did not know, and do not know, all science transcending.” From here, the exhibition stands out for its great staging, which wraps the tour in a dense gloom only broken by works of art. Without a doubt, one of the cultural events of the year.