On 26 September, Fundación Mapfre, Madrid will unveil Portraits: Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou. This major exhibition brings together key masterpieces from the portraiture genre for the first time in Spain.

Fundación Mapfre invites us to take a fascinating journey through the rich, complex genre of portraiture as interpreted by the various art movements of the 20th century. The leading Spanish philanthropic organisation has selected 80 exquisite masterpieces by some of history’s greatest artists from the collections of the Musée National d’Art Moderne-Centre Pompidou (MNAM-CP) in Paris. 

Curated by Jean-Michel Bouhours, curator at the Pompidou, the show spans a time period that begins with the portrait of Erik Satie painted by Suzanne Valadon in 1892-93 and ends with John Currin’s The Moroccan from 2001. Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, Henri Matisse, Robert Delaunay, Antonio Saura, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró and Amedeo Modigliani are just some of the artists represented here, whose works comprise a remarkable collection of high-quality oil paintings and sculptures brought together for the first time in Spain.   

The exhibition runs from 26 September 2012 - 6 January 2013. As with all exhibitions at Fundación Mapfre entry is free.

image credit: Pablo Picasso, Portrait of a woman, 1938 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-GP /All rights reserved © Sucession Pablo Picasso, VEGAP, Madrid, 2012

Press release EN