Murcia, The Museo Ramón Gaya, visiting the works of Murcia's famous native artist.

Where to go in Murcia, Museo Ramón Gaya

Ramón Gaya is one of the most popular and famous artists Murcia has ever produced, and this museum has been dedicated to his memory as a showcase for his works.

A little information about Ramón Gaya.

Born in 1910, he showed a prodigious talent, exhibiting in 1920 in a regional Fine Arts Society exhibition and by the age of 18 was in Madrid, mixing with some of the best-known names of the artistic set, the Generation of 27, a group of young poets and artists who revolutionised poetry and art, and boasted characters such as the poets Federico Garcia Lorca, murdered in the Spanish Civil War and  Pedro Salinas, artists Pedro Flores, moving in the orbit of the heady art revolution , with Picasso and Dali, all of whom he knew.

Spanish art was fashionable and vibrant, making headlines around the world for its creativity and modernism.

By the late 1930s. he was writing poetry and exhibiting his works in not only Spain, but also Paris.

During the Spanish Civil War, 1936,  many artists fled, were imprisoned or as in the case of Lorca, murdered, and following the death of his wife in a bombing raid, Gaya was imprisoned in a French prison camp. From there he fled to Mexico, and along with other Spanish artistic figures was exiled, a state in which he remained for more than 20 years, spending much of his time In Italy and Paris.

By the 1970s , he was once again exhibiting In Spain and throughout Europe, writing and painting, with several publications to his name, his art acclaimed within Spain where he was awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Arts by the Spanish government.

He continued to exhibit and write until his death in 2005.

There's a softness and a subtlety about this work, which is deeply sentimental and nostalgic, harping back to a time when the simplest of items was a treasured keepsake, clearly expressing the maturity of the artist.

Looking at the canvases evokes that feeling of tired familiarity, like going to visit a favourite great aunt, who always had a few flowers In a vase on her side table, every photo worn smooth through a lifetime of polishing, the air with a hint of must, and although everything was Immaculately clean, it was old, worn, faded, and softly antiquated.

That's what these pictures are, memories, recuerdos is the Spanish word, keepsakes of sunny afternoons and faded moments, an intimate admission Into the consciousness of the artist, an Indulgence which Is astonishingly difficult to achieve without appearing faked.

Museum Ramón Gaya, Plaza Santa Catalina.

The museum itself has a collection which spans his career, with a few pre-war pieces  and charts his evolution as an artist.

On the ground floor is a temporary exhibition which exhibits his extraordinary skill at capturing the personality of a sitter with just a few strokes, minimal paint, maximum effect, Gaya having a talent for saying so much with the use of so little.

Sadly the text which accompanies the canvases is in Spanish, and is quite difficult to translate literally, as Gaya was an expressive and creative writer, who was deeply passionate about the works of other artists, drawing inspiration from the messages expressed in other pieces, finding beauty and soul in the application of their paint.

He saw depth and soul where many would see only roughly applied paint, and much of the text in the museum is given over to the wonderment he felt when beholding art and his own feelings about the process of creating it.

His own work is so distinctive, and although echoes of the Italian countryside and French romanticism combine with tangible influences from throughout the history of art, the pieces are uniquely and unmistakeably his.

Walk into a gallery with 100 pieces by 100 artists and his would stand alone, so distinctive is the way he uses his paint, creates a suggestion instead of a supposition, and the feeling of peace and harmonious composition every work evokes.

A note if visiting the museum. It has a stunning spiral staircase up the centre of the building, which, while wonderful to look at can make the visit difficult for those with limited mobility. There is a lift.

Museum Ramon Gaya, Murcia,  Location and Opening Times

Plaza Santa Catalina

Murcia

 Click for map, Museo Ramon Gaya

Telephone: 968 221 099

Fax: 968 221 031

Opening Times

Monday-Saturday 10-2 and 5-8

Sunday 11-2pm

Summer Opening Hours ( June to September)

Monday to Friday 10-2 and 5-8pm

Closed Saturday and Sunday.

Entry is free of charge.

NB. This is very useful to bear in mind if you happen to be in Murcia on a Monday, as virtually everywhere else is shut , as we found to our cost when visiting Murcia for the first time.