Works in new San Diego Museum of Art exhibit offer a history of Spanish art

From Museum Reports

With 64 oil paintings, sculptures, and drawings from more than 25 legendary artists,

The San Diego Museum of Art

presents, “From El Greco to Dalí: The Great Spanish Masters from the Pérez Simón Collection,” on view to Nov. 6.The exclusive exhibition presents an overview of the progression of art in Spain over the last 500 years.

• Through the works of El Greco, José de Ribera and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, visitors are taken to the heart of the various faces of Catholic Reformation art in the 16

th

to 18th centuries.

• Goya and Sanchez Coello counter this religious art with beautiful, and sensitive, court portraits of Spanish Monarchs, balancing the portrayal of power with realistic representations.

• Ten works by Joaquin Sorolla, the undisputed master of scenes portraying simple pleasures in vivid, bright, strong canvasses, highlight the feeling of national identity that characterizes Spanish art of the 19th century.

• The exhibition finishes with a dialogue between Cubism and Surrealism by the Spanish masters who revolutionized Western art: Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, and Salvador Dali.

“It is with great pride that we are able to share this collection with the public,” said Roxana Velasquez, the museum’s executive director. “Given the historical connection among California, Mexico, and Spain, this exhibition of the highest-quality works of art highlights the relationship between the Spanish roots of the museum’s collection and the history of this institution and Balboa Park.”

Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, a Spanish-Mexican businessman and celebrated art patron, began to build his collection in the 1970s. Over a period of about 10 years, his passion for art and taste for culture led him to acquire a magnificent collection of paintings, sculptures, drawings, etchings, decorative objets d’art and manuscripts together with a library of more than 15,000 books.

“I have built up a personal world that reflects what defines me and excites me,” said Pérez Simón. “Anyone who, like me, does not have that wonderful gift of creating beauty through art, can console themselves by admiring works of art and enjoying the process of falling in love with them.”

If you go

What:

“From El Greco to Dalí: The Great Spanish Masters from the Pérez Simón Collection”

When:

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday

Where:

The San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park

Admission:

$4.50-$12

Phone:

(619) 232-7931

Web:

TheSanDiegoMuseumofArt.org