Petronor becomes a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Petronor becomes a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum and signs a collaborative agreement to sponsor the Alicia Koplowitz-Grupo Omega Capital Collection exhibition.

 

Today saw the signing of the collaborative agreement that confirms the incorporation of PETRONOR as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the museum's governing body, comprising institutional members representing the City Council of Bilbao, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Basque Government, together with other entities.

Ten entities – among them Petronor – are joined on the Board by the three institutional members, all contributing to the mission of promoting and developing the different elements that constitute the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum.

The presence of Petronor is an unprecedented addition which will increase the total number of board members, all of whom share the common aim of ensuring the maximum fulfilment of the museum's founding aim and mission, namely: “Uniting, conserving, studying and displaying the collection of old, modern and contemporary art of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, working to expand it, maintaining services and promoting high quality activities in order to make a decisive contribution to the education of society and the projection of the cultural values of the Autonomous Basque Region.”

For its part, Petronor has embarked on this agreement within the context of its different actions based on an awareness of its responsibility to the society in which it undertakes its activity and with the aim of “collaborating with different public and private institutions to support art, culture, language, education and training, as well as other activities of general interest.”

Petronor's involvement is specifically associated with the promotion of special exhibition projects at the museum. The first initiative within the collaborative programme between Petronor and the museum is a major temporary exhibition, The Alicia Koplowitz –Grupo Omega Capital Collection, which will open to the public on 28 July in the museum's BBK Gallery and will remain on display until 23 October.

The signing of this new agreement has been timed to coincide with the presentation of an initial work to arrive in Bilbao from the The Alicia Koplowitz–Grupo Omega Capital Collection. This is a large painting by the German artist Anselm Kiefer entitled Le Dormeur du val (2014), which will be one of the most recently created works in the exhibition.

The Alicia Koplowitz–Grupo Omega Capital Collection

The first initiative within the collaborative programme between Petronor and the museum is an important temporary exhibition, The Alicia Koplowitz–Grupo Omega Capital Collection, which will open to the public on 28 July in the museum's BBK Gallery and will remain on display until 23 October.

Both in terms of number of works (92) and the impressive roll-call of artists, the exhibition comprises a selection of works representative of the quality and artistic importance of one of Europe's most significant private collections. Adding to this interest is the fact that the collection has never previously been seen on public display in Spain.

Among 16th- and 17th-century Spanish artists to be seen in the exhibition are Pantoja de la Cruz, Morales, Zurbarán and Arellano. Particularly notable among 18th-century artists is the outstanding presence of Goya, accompanied by his contemporaries Camarón, Esteve and Paret. The Italian 18th-century school is also present with Guardi, Canaletto and the Tiepolos, among others, while French art from that century is represented by Hubert Robert. The Spanish 19th century is present with a work by Raimundo de Madrazo, and there are exceptionally important examples of Post-Impressionism by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec.

From the 20th century the collection includes paintings by Picasso, Juan Gris, Antonio López, Millares, Tápies and Barceló as representatives of Spanish art while the international art world is present through works by Mondrian, Modigliani, Schiele, Van Dongen, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, Lucian Freud, Lucio Fontana and Anselm Kiefer. The modern and contemporary section is completed with sculptures by Gargallo, Julio González, Miró, Oteiza, Chillida, Calder, David Smith, Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois and Donald Judd.

This personal survey of the history of art from the Alicia Koplowitz Collection is firstly notable for its equal focus on earlier masters and contemporary names in a double gaze on the past and present that is reflected in its particular emphasis on works from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

Another distinctive characteristic of this collection is its interest in bringing together not just paintings but also an important group of sculptures, with a remarkable series of works from classical antiquity and examples by major contemporary sculptors. Finally, the collection is notable for its cosmopolitan nature, broadening out from a focus on the Spanish school to acquire a truly international perspective.

All these elements come together in an exceptional collection which the public will be able to appreciate in all.

 

Links

• Alicia Koplowitz-Grupo Omega Capital Collection