Art and Fashion hand in hand, with one of the greatest referents and admired masters of Sewing, Cristobal Balenciaga, along with great works of Art of Spanish artists of the 16th and 20th centuries that were his inspiration, a great opportunity to see their creations from the point of view of comparative, artworks of painting and fashion together, where we see that fashion is not just fashion…

Since June 18, the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, presents this great and long-awaited exhibition of the couturier born on January 21, 1895 in Guetaria (Guipuzcoa-Pais Vasco), a lot of work before and after, being the first to start before being inaugurated, since a video of the preparation of the catalogue and the photo session was presented before the opening, available on youtube.

The Spanish tradition and culture of the 16th and 20th centuries were the basis of Modisto’s creations, he worked with these references, transforming and reinterpreting them in his own way. Admired both in his time and even today, he revolutionized and created a haute couture with a unique and universal style, played with architectural volumes (he even created woven together with the manufacturers to be able to achieve those desired volumes), flyers inspired by the dressing gowns, bullfighter-inspired boleros, paillettes, embroidery, lace… You can see pieces never exhibited before (many kept for more than 40 years) together with artworks from private national and international collections and from national institutions and museums, such as the Prado Museum, the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, the Balenciaga Museum in Guetaria, The Palace of the Duchess of Alba, the Costume Museum of Madrid and the Design Museum of Barcelona.

This designer who never belonged to the group of “Couture Dressmakers”, retired on July 1, 1968, in part because the business of “Haute Couture” was no longer profitable due to the rise of the “Pret à Porter” , the loss of most of its American clients and the change that was taking place on a social and political level.

He died in Jávea( Alicante) on March 23, 1972 of a heart attack, practically unexpectedly and whose legacy is based on his definition of the profession of the couturier:

“A good couturier must be: architect for the patterns, sculptor for the form, painter for the drawings, musician for the harmony and philosopher for the measure”.

“Balenciaga & the Spanish painting”, exhibition curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera, has managed to gather some pieces of great beauty where we will enjoy the Art of our master Balenciaga and his referents of Spanish Art.

Essential visit… Art for the Hungry.

From June 18 to September 22, 2019.