three hundred years through the streets of Madrid

It is one of the most important private collections in the world. It started with the wedding of Ana Isabel Gamazo of Hohenlohe-Langenburg It is Juan Abelloforty years ago, and with a beautiful canvas Santiago Rusiñol and Prats, Aranjuez Gardens (c. 1899), full of light and vibrant yellow brushstrokes, almost impressionistic. This painting, precisely, is the last image that the spectator has on his retina when he finishes the tour of this exhibition, the entrance to that mysterious garden, and that Juan Abelló, the pharmaceutical industry tycooninherited from his father, along with an intense passion for art.

The Abelló collection, with around 500 pieces, specializes in Spanish painting from the Middle Ages to the present day and one of his lines of work focuses on city views, especially Naples, Venice, Seville and Madrid. To date, it has only featured in three solo exhibitions, hence the expectation for some of the wonders currently on display at Correios Real, such as the two goyasO Antonio Joli or the Giuseppe CanellaThis is the first time that they have been exhibited in monographic form.

The evolution of the image of the city of Madrid, its urban design and transformation from 1621 to 1860their views over the centuries, the way of inhabiting the city and understanding it, is the purpose of this exhibition assembled in accordance with the opinions of classical museography and curated by cold angelPhD and professor of History of Art at the Complutense University.

This is a unique opportunity to enjoy, for the first time, the richness of a collection that also functions as an undeniable tool against oblivion. Through his images, many large formats of Madrid's urban environments, today World Heritage Sites and which are so familiar to us, such as Plaza Mayor, Calle Alcalá or Paseo del Prado, transform the visit into a an almost immersive experiencea journey through time in which we have the sensation of walking through the streets through paintings and architectural drawings.

[At Abelló's house]

Madrid in the Abelló collection. Paintings and drawings from the 17th to 20th centuries sample 55 piecescanvases, drawings and watercolors in which you can appreciate the splendor and transformation of the city for three centuries across seven rooms in no chronological order, only influencing the shift of the focus of attention to the “portrait artists” of Madrid. Starting with the original location on the plain of the Manzanares River, ending with the series of doors and walkways that definitively altered the urban landscape in the 18th and 19th centuries until finally reaching the natural environment of the Royal Sites.

The visit is an almost immersive experience, a journey through time in which we have the sensation of walking through the streets through paintings and architectural drawings.

Another interesting aspect of the exhibition is the graphic representation, architectural drawing. The viewer will recognize the views of Antonio Joli or Giuseppe Canella, but will also notice the deformations to which these artists subjected the streets, distorting the scales, larger or smaller, forcing the perspective or placing topographical inaccuracies.

The interests of patrons promoted the manipulation of frames, as well as the style and repercussion of each era. So the same Holi or François Ligier be able to transmit a modern capital impression, with wide tree-lined avenues and busy streets. In the mid-19th century, Canella and Genaro Pérez Villaamiltwo other important painters present in this urban history, reflect picturesque situations on these same sidewalks, in which grandeur gave way to costumbrismo painted in small formats, with a more environmental than scenographic sense.

The sample is a imago urbis, a polyhedral image of the city and its transformations over time, with special relevance in its courtly past, until it became a modern metropolis. You shouldn't miss the look of Antonio Joli and his spectacular View of Plaza Mayor (1754), his ink washes, some exquisite drawings of Calle de Alcalá or the Plaza de Toros or the famous cucaña (1786-1787) by Francisco de Goya. And when you go out, don't forget to do it in the garden.

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