Exhibitions
Stories on Canvas: Raimundo de Madrazo at Mapfre Foundation
The Mapfre Foundation is opening two exhibitions in Madrid dedicated to Raimundo de Madrazo and Edward Weston, which will be open to the public until January 18, 2026. The first exhibition, entitled Raimundo de Madrazo , is a major retrospective dedicated to the Spanish painter (Rome, 1841 – Versailles, 1920), recognized as a "master of elegance and detail" in genre painting and portraiture. Organized in collaboration with the Meadows Museum in Dallas and curated by Amaya Alzaga Ruiz, the exhibition brings together more than one hundred works, many of them previously unpublished thanks to recent research.
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, Studio of the Madrazos on Alcalá Street, c. 1856–1858, Madrazo Collection. Community of Madrid, MADRAZO – 34, Photo credit: © Luis Escobar.
The exhibition covers everything from his costumbrist scenes to his pivotal role in the development of the juste milieu , a pictorial movement that bridged the gap between academic tradition and avant-garde proposals. The most comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the work of Raimundo de Madrazo, presented by Fundación MAPFRE, seeks not only to alleviate the lack of knowledge surrounding this outstanding artist, but also to vindicate his legacy and restore his rightful place in art history.
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta was a prominent 19th-century Spanish painter, renowned for his refined realist style and a brilliant artistic career largely developed in Paris. Born on July 24, 1841, in Rome, he belonged to a family closely linked to the art world: his father, Federico de Madrazo; his grandfather, José de Madrazo; and his uncle, Pedro de Madrazo, were key figures in the Spanish art scene.
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, The Daughters of the Cid, c. 1865, Roca Collection, Sabadell. Courtesy of Artur Ramón. Photo credit: © Foto Gasull.
As a privileged witness to the vibrant artistic atmosphere of late 19th-century Paris, Madrazo witnessed firsthand the coexistence of academic movements supported by official competitions and new creative proposals—such as Impressionism—that would mark the beginning of the path toward the avant-garde movements of the 20th century.
Through a journey divided into eight sections, the exhibition traces—both chronologically and thematically—the pulse of a life dedicated to art. More than 100 works, including several previously unseen pieces discovered during preliminary research, flesh out this evocative retrospective. Nearly 60 collections and institutions, both national and international, have endorsed this ambitious tribute, which invites us to rediscover the elegance, detail, and subtle modernity of one of the greatest painters of his time. After its stay in Madrid, the exhibition will travel to the United States, where it will be hosted by the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. It will be on view there from February 22 to June 21, 2026.
Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta, The Beautiful Flower Girl, c. 1900-1910, Rebosa Domínguez Collection, Coria, Cáceres, Photo credit: © Jorge Armestar.
The MAPFRE Foundation's exhibition is divided into different sections that provide an insight into the many facets of Raimundo de Madrazo's career. These include: his early years in Paris; Fortuny and Madrazo: friendship, preciosity, and the image of Spain ; Nonchalance ; the figure of his favorite model, Aline Masson; his consolidation as a portraitist par excellence; the presence of Americans in Paris and his portrait tours throughout the Americas; and, finally, his final years, marked by his alternation between Paris, New York, and Versailles. Raimundo de Madrazo died in Versailles on September 15, 1920. His artistic legacy establishes him as one of the great painters of nineteenth-century realism, noted for his elegance, impeccable technique, and ability to capture the beauty and taste of his time.
