Art
The Influence of Painting on Balenciaga's Visual Universe
An exhibition at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum demonstrates that though it would seem impossible to replicate El Greco’s gleaming fabrics in real life, Balenciaga manages to do just that.
Spain
Art
Stanley Whitney’s Machine for Painting
Whitney’s paintings at this point seem to embody the transitory.
Art
How Art Can Operate as Soft Power
As the polarization over Catalan independence deepens in Spain, two recent exhibitions at the Antoni Tàpies Foundation underscore how art and soft power are more relevant than ever before.
Art
Using Humor, Food, and Femininity, Bobby Baker Creates an Art of Domesticity
Baker's work utilizes food, families, and femininity to tell stories about women's imposed invisibility, and turns them into artwork.
News
Judge Orders ARCO Madrid to Make Exhibitor Selection Process More Transparent
The fair, which opened its 2019 edition today, defends its “impeccable” selection process.
Art
Healing History’s Scars in the Art of Kader Attia
Kader Attia's new solo exhibition in Barcelona reminds us of the permanence of scars as well as our ability to heal.
In Brief
15th-Century Virgin Mary Sculpture Gets a Very Special Makeover
We have no record of what color the Virgin Mary's hair was when she gave birth to Jesus, but it probably wasn't turquoise.
News
Is Spain's Decision to Exhume Franco's Body a Goodwill Gesture or a Politically Motivated Ploy?
The leftist government's decision to dig up the dictator's body from its resting place after four decades in the country's most important memorial site threatens to open old wounds.
In Brief
Dalí Foundation Sues Yet Another Dalí Museum, and the Outcome Is Unpredictable
The Dalí Foundation has their sights on the Monterey museum devoted to the Spanish Surrealist and unlike the case in Spain, which the foundation lost, this may be different.
Art
How Are Catalonia's Cultural Institutions Responding to Political Chaos?
As the rift between Madrid and Barcelona deepens, Catalonia's art institutions are caught between a rock and a hard place — and largely silent on political issues.
Books
Plumage of the Saints: Aztec Feather Art in the Age of Colonialism
In a 16th-century triptych of the crucifixion at the Musée National de la Renaissance, north of Paris, Christ has wings. In fact the whole piece is made of feathers.
In Brief
13,800-Year-Old Engraving May Be First Depiction of a Man-Made Landscape
Seven crude semicircles scratched into the surface of an ancient stone slab may not make much of an impression on modern-day viewers.