Carmen (1974) by Alexander Calder is currently undergoing a restoration process, which will continue until the end of 2024. Located in the Sabatini building's garden and exposed to the elements, it requires specialized treatment to remove dirt, corrosion, stains, and other alterations accumulated over time. We appreciate your understanding.
To mark the new installations in the permanent Collection in November 2014, the piece Lanas (Yarns) by the artist Juan Hidalgo was assembled. The work, defined by the artist himself as a Zaj environment, was on view for the first time in the German Institute in Madrid in May 1972 to celebrate an end-of-term party, before being exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in 2009, in the exhibition The Pamplona Encounters 1972: The End of the Party for Experimental Art.
During the Richard Hamilton retrospective held in the Museo Reina Sofía in 2014, the works exhibited included two installations that now form part of the Museo’s Collection: Man, Machine & Motion, initially exhibited in 1955 in the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle and ICA, London, and An Exhibit, produced in 1957 and also exhibited in the Hatton Gallery, in collaboration with the artists Victor Pasmore and Lawrence Alloway.
For the purposes of the Playgrounds Exhibition, three works by Ángel Ferrant have been loaned to the Museo, corresponding to the set of wooden children's toys he produced for the Caño Roto Housing Development (1957-63). According to Antonio Vázquez de Castro, one of the architects in the aforementioned project, Ángel Ferrant took an interest in the experience of the housing developments and wanted to "make a generous contribution, charging what a carpenter or locksmith charges me" in designing these games.
One of the main interests of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is to present recent acquisitions to the public. In keeping with our policy of exhibiting and rotating the permanent collection as much as possible, we have installed Opera by Öyvind Fahlström for the first time since its incorporation into the collection. Created in 1952-53, it is the first significant work by the artist. An exhibition room has been designed for the sole purpose of exhibiting this work in a manner which highlights its theatricality and its relationship with musical language.
Presentation of the stages of study and intervention in the work Mujer en azul (Woman in Blue) that Pablo Picasso painted in 1901.
The rearrangement of the permanent collection made it necessary to move, in March 2010, the piece Toki-Egin (Homenaje a San Juan de la Cruz), created by Eduardo Chillida in 1990. It had been situated on the fourth floor of the Sabatini Building and its weight, over 9 tonnes, made moving it a very complicated process.
The initial results of the study of the work with visible light, x-ray, ultraviolet and infrared technology which, along with the state of conservation of the painting, shed new light on this work of art. The x-ray images show that Solana painted the La tertulia del café Pombo over a baroque altar. The four phases of the study can be navigated with the cursor.
