The holidays are coming and with them the moment to enjoy all those plans that we have been waiting for for a long time. Among all of them, cultural leisure will always be a great option to escape from our routine, traveling through art to bygone eras and multiple geographical enclaves.

From Setdart we encourage you to spend a vacation full of art with a selection of some of the most interesting exhibitions that this summer’s cultural agenda offers us within our borders:

“André Butzer” at the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

An interesting retrospective, the first of this German artist outside his country, brings together, until September 10, an elaborate selection of his works made between 1999 and 2002. Arranged chronologically, the 22 large-format canvases take us into the particular pictorial universe of the artist whose genesis stems from influences as diverse as German Expressionism, Henry Ford and Walt Disney. As a result of this fusion, the artist creates a pictorial universe called “science fiction expressionism” that oscillates between darkness and explosion of colors, between abstraction and cartoon figures.

“Calderón and Painting” at the Museo del Prado

The exhibition itinerary proposed by the Prado aims to invite the public to contemplate the Baroque painting of its permanent collection from the poetics and aesthetic subtlety of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681). The exhibition tour, according to the museum, consists of three approaches or readings that complement and dialogue with each other. One of them shows a selection of Calderonian quotations hung on the walls, proposing a dialogue between the lucidity of the writer and the language of the Baroque painters; the next one gathers a series of commented paintings in relation to the Calderonian theater, which allows to go through some of the concerns of the writer and his time. Finally, through a careful selection of texts, the author’s thoughts in relation to painting are put into context.

“Velázquez” at the Tech Museum

The exhibition gives us the opportunity to approach the work of the great master Diego Velázquez in a much more immersive way thanks to technological advances. In total there are eight interactive rooms where visitors will find amazing digital resources that will make them rediscover the entire legacy of one of the greatest exponents of all time of painting in Spain. During the tour, visitors will be able to marvel at Las Meninas in four dimensions, an integral experience that unites present, past and future. The five senses will be in contact with Velázquez’s masterpiece, which can now not only be seen, but also felt and heard in a completely innovative way.

“The will of Picasso. The ceramics that inspired the artist” at Disseny Hub Barcelona.

On the occasion of the Picasso Celebration 1973-2023, the Disseny Hub Barcelona exhibits and puts in dialogue the sixteen ceramic pieces that the artist himself donated and a selection of those that he himself was able to see in 1957 at the exhibition The Spanish ceramics, from the 13th century to the present day. The exhibition highlights the value of the collection of historic Spanish ceramics it houses and explains the influence these pieces had on Picasso’s creations.

“The human image” at Caixa Forum

Through a diversity of pieces from ancient civilizations from the British Museum combined with a selection of contemporary artworks from the Fundación la Caixa Collection and the Museo del Prado, the exhibition explains how human beings have represented themselves over time.

The discourse of the exhibition is divided into five thematic sections(Ideal Beauty, Portraits, The Divine Body, The Political Body and Corporal Transformation), all of which bring together representations from different periods, connecting and enriching the different conceptions of the exhibition narrative.

Carmen Calvo at the Picasso Museum

This exhibition will be a magnificent opportunity to review the artistic career of Carmen Calvo, whose trajectory, rooted in the heritage of the artistic avant-gardes, deserves a resounding recognition. Through his work, Cavo critically, as well as poetically, investigates the vestiges of the past and the memory of our country. The exhibition begins with a small retrospective of his artistic production, followed by a group of pieces created during the pandemic and closes with works made expressly for the occasion that are inspired by and in dialogue with Picasso’s work.

“Fernando Botero. Sensuality and melancholy” at the Bancaja Foundation.

Sensuality and melancholy, represents the first retrospective in Valencia of the Colombian artist, considered one of the most outstanding figures of the international art scene. The exhibition offers a journey through his artistic production over seven decades, from his first creations in the 1960s, made during his time in New York, to pieces from 2022. The exhibition offers a journey through the evolution of Botero’s creative universe, built from the beginning at the margin of the prevailing stylistic currents of his time, such as action painting or informalism, and opting for figuration. The exhibition is divided into five sections that respond to the central themes of his work: carnival, circus and dance; the plein air; still life; female universe; and the nude.

“The darkest Sorolla” at Fundación Bancaja

The exhibition is a great opportunity to discover the lesser known side of the painter usually associated with the representation of the light of the Mediterranean. The exhibition is divided into four thematic blocks in which we can see the use of black and gray tones that Sorolla used mainly in portraits and genre scenes. The blocks deal with portraiture, symbolism and the meaning of the dark tones that permeate the social context of the time; the value of black as a source of contrast and a means to enhance light and color; and the use of monochrome in the work of the Valencian painter.

If you are an admirer of his work, you should not miss the exhibition Masaveu Collection. “Sorolla” The exhibition is presented in the year of commemoration of the centenary of the death of Joaquín Sorolla, which brings together fifty extraordinary pieces belonging to one of the most important private collections in Spain.

“The constellations of Julio González: between representation and abstraction” in Gallery 2 of IVAM

The exhibition, curated by the historian and art and architecture critic Juan José Lahuerta, proposes a new reading of Julio González’s collection , far removed from certain myths about his life and work. For the occasion, 42 works by one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century have been selected, all from the IVAM collection, in dialogue with 11 sculptures by artists such as Andreu Alfaro, Martin Chirino, Georg Herold, Jacques Lipchitz, Miquel Navarro, Jaume Plensa, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Joel Shapiro, David Smith and Tony Smith, which demonstrate the validity of their artistic contributions.