Zurbarán - 1598-1664

Francisco de Zurbarán is counted, alongside Diego Velázquez and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, among the most important Spanish painters of the seventeenth century. Initially regarded as Caravaggesque, marked by monastic asceticism, he was gradually recognized in the twentieth century as a colorist and celebrated for his personal style, which blends simplification of volumes with striking naturalism. The National Gallery in London, the Louvre Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago have joined forces to present a retrospective that will let visitors discover or reassess his painting, better understand it, and appreciate the modernity and the visual strength of his compositions.

The aim of this Louvre exhibition is not to present an exhaustive monograph, but rather a selection of paintings, accompanied by historical and cultural references, allowing viewers to admire Zurbarán's technique, as well as his formal and iconographic boldness. The display, organized into seven sections, approaches the different facets of Zurbarán's painted œuvre within a chrono-thematic logic that traces the arc of his long career, while at times breaking away from chronology to propose regroupings of works.

The exhibition will place great emphasis on monumental paintings arising from monastic commissions in Andalusia, which earned Zurbarán his fame, but also on portraits and still lifes, reserving a special place for the short production of his son Juan de Zurbarán (1620-1649). A few paintings dating from the late 19th century and the early 20th century will allow, in epilogue fashion, to reflect Zurbarán's importance for the French avant-garde (Édouard Manet, Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris).