In 2023, the Ministry of Culture has invested a total of 13,965,142.87 euro in the acquisition of cultural assets for public collections, which represents an increase of 110% compared to 2022, when the investment was 6.62 million.
During the last fiscal year, the Ministry of Culture has made purchases for 26 public cultural institutions: thirteen state-owned museums under direct management; three museums under management transferred to autonomous communities; four state archives, the National Library of Spain, the Prado National Museum, the Reina Sofía National Art Centre Museum, National Heritage, the National Museum of Natural Sciences and the Army Museum.
In total, more than 200 purchase operations have been carried out. Although a percentage of these acquisitions correspond to individual pieces, in other cases they are sets, archives and collections with dozens or hundreds of goods such as paintings, sculptures, drawings, furniture, clothing, ceramics and photo albums, in addition to documentary collections and bibliographical and contemporary artistic installations.
Sorolla Centenary and Royal Collections
Continuing with the effort to enrich the painter’s public collections, on the occasion of the centenary of the death of Joaquín Sorolla, three more works by the painter have been acquired in 2023 for the Sorolla Museum, a museum dependent on the Ministry of Culture. They are the oil on canvas ‘Street Troubadour’, the wash and gouache on paper ‘Toma de habit’ and the oil on canvas ‘Head of Saint Anthony’. These acquisitions have involved an investment of 531,000 euro and are added to the six works by Sorolla purchased in 2022 for almost half a million euro.
The Ministry of Culture has also contributed to the inauguration of the Royal Collections Gallery. It has acquired the flamenco tapestry ‘The Triumph of Time’ for one million euro, displayed in the new centre. In total, National Heritage has received new collections for more than 1,212,447.57 euro. In addition to the tapestry, highlights include the ‘Sketch with Christ Crowning a Nun’, by Corrado Giaquinto, and a set of baptism ewers made in gilt silver by Crossville and Glachant.
Support for Spanish feminine and contemporary creation
For yet another year, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) has entered artistic works made by women and acquired by the Ministry of Culture. Thus, at ARCO 2023, the purchase of 26 works – installation, video, painting, photography, collage… – by 18 artists, 12 of them women, among whom are Cecilia Bengolea, Gabriela Bettini and Ana Esteve Reig, was agreed for 400,000 euro.
Altogether, thanks to the Ministry of Culture, the MNCARS collections have registered new income in 2023 for almost 1,200,000 euro. Among these new pieces, the portraits ‘Antonio and Carmen’ and ‘Sinforoso and Josefa’, both by Antonio López, stand out for 350,000 euro; and a work by the American Allan McCollum, for 69,000 euro.
Similarly, 30 works have been purchased for the National Prado Museum, for almost 620,000 euro, such as the paintings ‘Saint Peter Receiving the Keys’ and ‘Baptism of Christ’, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, for 200,000 euro; the oil painting ‘The Birth of Adonis’, by Pedro de Orrente, for 120,000 euro; five drawings by Vicente López and Manuel Salvador Carmona, for almost 50,000 euro; the print of ‘The King Contemplates’, by Rosa Bonheur, for 48.71 euro, and a still life attributed to Pedro de Camprobín for 180,000 euro.
State Museums
As for the collections of the State Museums managed by the Ministry of Culture, this year they have incorporated such relevant pieces as ‘ La Piedad’ by Francisco de Goya, for 1.5 million euro, for the National Museum of Romanticism. In total, this museum has admitted new works in 2023 for a total value of 2 million euro. Of the rest of the pieces acquired for this centre, an equestrian portrait of Pedro Ayegui Torralba by Rafael Tegeo stands out, for 186,300 euro; and the portrait of a painter by Antonio Poza y Muñoz, worth 3,629 euro.
For the Costume Museum, an interesting set of clothing from different periods has been acquired abroad, with garments designed by Pedro Rodríguez, Chanel, Dior and Galliano, and with photographs by Javier Vallhonrat, for just over 150,000 euro. This purchase is added to that of the archive and collection of the couturier Lorenzo Caprile, for a value of 275,000 euro, with more than 5,000 documentary collections and more than 500 pieces of clothing by Balenciaga, Valentino and Lanvin, among many others, in addition to the work of the Caprile himself.
Different works have been assigned to the National Archaeological Museum, among which a ceramic plate from Manises from the 15th century stands out, for 50,000 euro; and 52 pieces from the Royal Crystal Factory of La Granja, for 48,000 euro. Meanwhile, the Cervantes Birthplace Museum has received a set of 23 panels with scenes from ‘Don Quixote’, by Manuel García Rodríguez, for almost 29,000 euro. Also in Valladolid, the collections of the National Museum of Sculpture are growing with different works worth 200,000 euro, with pieces such as a sculpture of Santiago Matamoros by José Ginés.
Also significant are the purchases, destined for the National Museum of Decorative Arts, of a set of 37 pieces of Spanish design, ceramics and porcelain from the 20th century, for almost 75,000 euro; 9 drawings by Delhy Tejero, for almost 27,000 euro; and four pieces of furniture designed between 1957 and 1962 by Juan Cuenca, from Equipo 57, for an approximate amount of 50,000 euro.
For its part, the El Greco Museum has incorporated two 17th century canvases into its collections: ‘Moses and the Water of the Rock’, by Pedro de Orrente from Murcia, and an unpublished self-portrait by Luis Tristán from Toledo, both for almost 9,800 euro.
Many of these new works are already on public tours or will be in the near future. A current example of this dissemination policy is the exhibition ‘Adding Stories. 10 years of acquisitions’, open at the Museum of America until April, which explains the steps followed for the acquisition of new cultural assets by state museums.
In addition to the acquisitions for State Museums located in Valladolid, Mérida or Toledo, the Ministry of Culture has provided new funds to three museums whose management has been transferred to autonomous communities spread throughout different parts of the territory: the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, with the painting ‘Carrera de Joies’ by Antonio Fillol, worth 25,000 euro; the Gudalajara Museum, with the painting ‘Portrait of Doña Luisa de Mendoza y Mendoza, Countess of Saldaña’ by Antonio Ricci, for 96,456 euro; and the Museum of Albacete, with a glazed earthenware jar from the Hellín pottery, from the 18th century, for an amount of 3,500 euro.
Documentary and bibliographic heritage
The balance highlights the purchase of the Archive of the Counts of Güemes and Revilla-Gigedo for the Historical Archive of the Nobility, for a total price of 6,344,750 euro (of which 5,200,000 euro have been paid from the budgets 2023). It is one of the most important private noble archives in Spain, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 2008, with fundamental documents for knowledge of the history of the Modern Age in Spain and America.
The General Archive of the Indies, the National Historical Archive and the Documentary Centre of Historical Memory have also received new documentary funds worth 330,000 euro in 2023. Some examples are the manuscripts on the trade routes between Spain and Río de la Plata, the document of the Holy Office dated in Granada in 1626 and the batch of more than 80 photographs by the Catalan Antoni Campañaà (1906-1989).
The Ministry of Culture has also made purchases for the National Library of Spain worth almost 174,000 euro, such as the first edition of the book ‘Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus’ by Mary Shelley, of which there was no copy in Spanish public libraries, for 75,000 euro, and two manuscripts from the library of the Marquis of Toca dated to the 18th century, for 45,000 euro.
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