“¡Qué arte tienes!” Have you heard? Did they tell you? Did you know that this is one of the most used colloquial expressions in Seville? It’s a way of praising a person’s grace, but also their wit and talent. In Seville, art plays a fundamental role in life, it being the birthplace of the universal masters of painting.
This phrase encompasses a whole philosophy of life. Art has always evolved naturally in Seville, a result of the vital experience provided by the city.
Of all the artistic periods of Seville, the Baroque stands out, perhaps because it merges with our way of seeing life. And two Sevillian painters are especially notable for this way of looking at life: Velázquez and Murillo.
From naturalism to tenebrism, from iconography to more transparent realism, the work of these two great masters is somehow inherited from the Seville of the time. A walk through its streets will reveal these pictorial atmospheres and memories.
“The spaces, the light and the faces of these works seem to come to life as you walk through Seville.”
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Diego de Velázquez is one of the most important painters in the history of art. He was born in a house between San Pedro and Alfalfa, in an almost hidden street, whose facade faithfully transports us to the time of the painter. The apparent humility of the home will make you think of that child, that young man, who in the beginnings of the seventeenth century was becoming a genius.
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So see his main works in Seville, head to the Velázquez Centre at the Focus Abengoa Foundation, known for the Santa Rufina. Seville pays homage to its most universal painter with a statue in the Plaza del Duque.
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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo is another great Sevillian baroque painter. The Museo de Bellas Artes (the second gallery in Spain) has a huge collection of his work. The museum’s beautiful plaza is home to its statue. Also, in the Hospital de la Caridad, you can admire the quality of Murillo, admiring the paintings that adorn its walls.
- The Velazquez Centre, in Los Venerables, is a must see.
- In the heart of Santa Cruz, you can also visit Murillo’s birthplace.
- The Fine Arts Museum is the second most important gallery in Spain.
- The Murillo collection at the Fine Arts Museum is especially relevant.
