The University of Navarra Museum Collection is a living collection, as it is constantly growing, and a comprehensive collection, as it encompasses all types of artistic expression: photography, painting, sculpture, video art, etc.
Until August 24, 2025, you can visit the exhibition "University of Navarra Museum Collection: Four Decades," which, for the first time, offers a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the collection since its inception in the 1980s. Through the works on display, we can explore 185 years of art, from the beginning of photography in 1839 to the present day.
The University of Navarra Museum collection is a growing legacy, centered on photography and the modern and contemporary art collection. These two pillars provide a space for interdisciplinary encounters between photography, painting, sculpture, and video creation.
Since 2002, the Museum has been developing a creative research and artist residency project: Tender Puentes(Building Bridges). This initiative promotes dialogue between contemporary artists and our collection, which inspires them to create new artistic projects and new works. Tender Puentes is complemented by theoretical reflection in the form of a book, a conference, and othereducational activities.
National photography awards such as Bleda y Rosa, Joan Fontcuberta, and Javier Vallhonrat; artists Pierre Gonnord, Vik Muniz, Antoni Muntadas, Fernando Pagola, and Carlos Cánovas have participated in this program. In addition, since 2016, the Museum has expanded the project to visual artists from other disciplines.
The Performing Arts and Music Artist Residency Programsalso draw on the MUN Collection as a source of inspiration. New dance, music, and theater creations are based on and rooted in works from the Collection, giving rise to important creative and research processes. The results are shared through conferences and publications: Cuadernos de creación is the editorial line that covers the different phases of their development and the fundamental milestones that have led to the final piece.
KEY PIECES FROM THE MUSEUM'S COLLECTION
Jaime García del Barrio, director of the Museum, introduces the series
Key pieces from the MUN Collection. 'De este paraíso' (From this paradise) by Manolo Millares
Key pieces from the MUN Collection. 'Margarita Xirgu'; 'Self-portrait of Carlos Nyssen' and 'El Raval'.
'La Plaza de la Costituzione' by Claudius Galen Wheelhouse.
Photographs from the series 'De Laboris' by Pierre Gonnord
Encyclopedia, or reasoned dictionary of the sciences, arts, and crafts, 1751–1772. Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond D'Alembert
The photography collection allows us to witness the evolution of the medium in Spain, with pieces dating from its creation to the present day.
The former Photography Collection of the University of Navarra began in 1981 with the receipt of the legacy of José Ortiz-Echagüe, one of the leading Spanish photographers of the 20th century. It includes photographs taken in North Africa and the series that make up his four fundamental books: España tipos y trajes (Spain: Types and Costumes, 1929), España pueblos y paisajes (Spain: Towns and Landscapes, 1939), España mística (Mystical Spain, 1943), and España castillos y alcázares (Spain: Castles and Fortresses, 1956), plus a group of family images. This first donation led the University to consider a project to create a collection of Spanish photography. With the purchase of pieces, other donations, deposits, and bequests, the Fund was inaugurated in 1990.
It is a living collection, which today has nearly 23,000 photographs and almost 250,000 negatives. Among them are the works of contemporary artists who worked in Spain throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the Viscount of Vigier, Alphonse de Launay, Gustave Beaucorps, Jean Laurent, and José Martínez Sánchez in the 19th century; representatives of 20th-century 'new photography', such as Pere Català Pic and Josep Renau; and photojournalists such as Robert Capa, Agustí Centelles, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
María Josefa Huarte shared with her family a great admiration for contemporary art. This led her to promote and sponsor various young artists of the time. A frequent visitor to museums and art galleries, over the years she amassed an important collection of works with which she felt a special connection. Over time, those unknown artists became essential figures in the Spanish art scene of the second half of the 20th century.
The collection includes fifty paintings and sculptures by the most internationally renowned Spanish artists of the time. Its three main pillars, Pablo Palazuelo, Jorge Oteiza, and Antoni Tàpies, are joined by other Spanish artists such as Eduardo Chillida, José Antonio Sistiaga, and Luis Feito, as well as three essential figures on the international scene: Marc Rothko, Pablo Picasso, and Vasily Kandinsky.
Over time, other collections will be added to this initial legacy, such as those of Juan Dolcet and Rafael Sanz Lobato, two of Spain's leading documentary photographers. The collections of Víctor Méndez Pascual and Robert Hershkowitz contain a particularly valuable series of 19th-century photographs. The Juan Naranjo collection, meanwhile, is the richest in contemporary pieces. The museum has received other specific donations, including those from Patty Cisneros, Bleda y Rosa, Carlos Cánovas, and Javier Vallhonrat, among others.
Loans
304 items on loan
- Loan of Untitled, 1969, by Mark Rothko, to the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation (Barcelona), for the exhibition The Paths of Abstraction (1957–1978). Dialogues with the Museum of Abstract Art in Cuenca.
- Loan of the installation El no retorno(No Return) by Cecilia Paredes to the Conde Duque Contemporary Culture Center (Madrid) for the exhibition Cecilia Paredes. El no retorno.
- Loan of 107 photographs by José Ortiz Echagüe to the Cervantes Institute for the exhibition Photographic Sketches of the Past: Spain 1900-1950 as Seen by José Ortiz de Echagüe, at the Opelvillen Museum (Russelsheim - Frankfurt).
- Loan of one photograph by Charles Clifford, one photograph by Paul Audouard, and one album by Robert P. Napper to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) (Madrid) for the exhibition Documentary Genealogies: Photography 1848–1917.
- Loan of 190 drawings by Cristina de Middel and 1,200 documentary photographs from the newspaper Alerta to the Renault Hall at the Polytechnic University of Valencia for the exhibition Cristina de Middel. Cucurrucucú.
- Loan of one photograph by Charles Clifford to the Community of Madrid for the exhibition Region. Mission Landscape Madrid.
- Loan of Mousquetaire. Tête (1967), by Pablo Picasso, to the Museum of Fine Arts in A Coruña for the exhibition Picasso blanco en el recuerdo azul(White Picasso in Blue Memory).
CO-PRODUCTIONS
- Co-production with the Mapfre Foundation of the exhibition Todo es verdad. Ficciones y documentos (1985-2020)(Everything is True: Fictions and Documents (1985-2020)), by Jorge Ribalta.
- Co-production with the Cervantes Institute in Frankfurt and the Opelvillen Museum in Rüsselsheim (Germany) of the exhibition Photography notes from the past. José Ortiz Echagüe (1886-1990).
- Co-production with the University of Navarra Science Museum of the exhibition Reazione Nera. Cajal and the nerve impulse of photography.
- Participation in the distributed exhibition "Catorce más allá" (Fourteen Beyond) in collaboration with the Network of Museums and Permanent Collections of Navarra.
CO-PRODUCTIONS
Galician Center for Contemporary Art (CGAC) (Santiago de Compostela), co-production of the exhibition Hamish Fulton. Walking east
MAPFRE Foundation (Madrid), co-production of the exhibition Jorge Ribalta. Everything is true. Fictions and documents (1987-2020)
LOANS
- CGAC (Santiago de Compostela), loan of three photographs for the exhibition Camiños II.
- Fundación Canal Isabel II (Madrid), loan of eight photographs for the exhibition Clifford. Views of Isabel II's Madrid
- Juanelo Turriano Foundation (Condeduque-Madrid), loan of ten photographs for the exhibition Fortification and City
- Patio Herreriano (Valladolid), loan of fifteen photographs for the exhibition Ricardo González. Valladolid-Ariza and photography of public works in the 19th century.
- Bancaja Foundation (Valencia), loan of a sculpture for the exhibition Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida. Dialogue in the 1950s and 1960s
- Kubo Kutxa Foundation (San Sebastián), loan of a painting for the exhibition José Antonio Sistiaga. De rerum natura
- Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife (Granada), loan of three photographs for the exhibition On the Alhambra in Modern Art
- Fundación En Aire (Santander), loan of four photographs for the exhibition Javier Vallhonrat. The Engraved Shadow. Bordering the Ice
- Reina Sofía National Art Museum (MNCARS) (Madrid), loan of seven photographs for the permanent exhibition
- Vannes International Photography Festival (Brittany, France), loan of forty photographs for the Martín Chambi exhibition. University of Navarra Museum Collection
- San Telmo Museum (San Sebastián), loan of a sculpture for the exhibition Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida. Dialogue in the 1950s and 1960s
- National Museum of Decorative Arts (Madrid), loan of an album of drawings for the exhibition The Emergence of Modern Life: Furniture and Interiors in 1930s Spain.
- Patio Herreriano (Valladolid), loan of seventy photographs for the exhibition Derivaciones. Photography in Spain between the 1950s and 1980s.
LOANS
- Two photographs by José Ortiz Echagüe for the exhibition Huerta frente al agua (Orchard facing the water), at the Monastery of Santa María de Huerta (Soria)
- Two facsimiles of photographs by Ortiz Echagüe for an installation by artist Rogelio López Cuenca at the Reina Sofía National Art Museum (MNCARS).
- Two photographs from the Propaganda Commission for the exhibition Let's Crush Fascism. Propaganda Commission of the Generalitat of Catalonia (1936-39), at the Palau Robert in Barcelona.
- Various materials related to Hiraki Sawa's work Plattern, for the Taiwan International Video Art exhibition at the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab.
- 46 photographs by Jose Ortiz Echagüe for the exhibition José Ortiz Echagüe. Photographs. 1903-1965, at the Evaristo Valle Museum Foundation in Gijón.
Co-productions and traveling exhibitions from the collection
● Bilbao Fine Arts Museum with the exhibition of the María Josefa Huarte Collection.
● Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, Navarre Museum, and University of Navarre Museum with the exhibition On Beauty and the Sacred by Isabel Baquedano.
● Sala Canal Isabel II with the exhibition Universes by David Jiménez.
Loans from the collection
● Thyssen Bornemisza Museum for the exhibition The Impressionists and Photography.
● Center for Art and Nature (CDAN) with digitized images from the album Altos Hornos de Vizcaya al.
● Beulas Foundation (Huesca) for the exhibition Open Skies. Mining, Quarries, and Other Exploitations of the Planet.
● LaCaixa/Caixaforum Foundation (Barcelona, Madrid, and Palma) with photographs by Agustí Centelles and Francesc Catalá Roca for the exhibition Camera and City. Scenes of Modernity.
● La Virreina. Centre de la Imatge (Barcelona). Photographs by Juan Dolcet for the Aixelá gallery.
● ICO Foundation (Madrid). Two works by Pablo Palazuelo and one by José Antonio Sistiaga for the exhibition Saénz de Oiza. Arts and Crafts.
● IVAM- Valencian Institute of Modern Art (Valencia) for the exhibition Orientalismos, with photographs by José Ortiz Echagüe, Luis Díaz Duarte, Alonso Martínez y Hermano, Ramón Batllés, and Pere Casas Abarca, and the book Tres fiestas artísticas.
● Hôtel de Caumont. Art Center (Aix en Provence, France). A work by Joaquín Sorolla for the exhibition Joaquín Sorolla. Lumières espagnoles.
● Palau Robert (Barcelona). Photographs by the Comissariat de propaganda by an anonymous author for the exhibition El Comissariat de propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya durante la Guerra Civil.
Performing Arts collaborations and productions
● Transmutación by choreographer Antonio Ruz (2018 National Dance Award winner).
● A puerta cerrada, a reflection through dance on the impact of lockdown. A co-production with Kukai Dantza.
Collaboration with the Education Department:
● Agreement with Shelton Academy, Miami.
● Community of Pamplona
● Directorate General for Peace and Coexistence of the Government of Navarre.
Co-productions and traveling exhibitions of the collection
● Tabacalera- Promoción del Arte with the exhibition Ready, Set, Archive by Cristina de Middel. In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sport.
● Fundación Caja Burgos with the exhibition José Ortiz Echagüe 1886-1980.
● Sala Rekalde in Bilbao. In the Time of Carlos Cánovas.
Loans from the collection
● Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM).
● San Telmo Museum.
● Museum of Navarre.
Performing arts collaborations and productions
● Oteiza, opera, produced by the Museum in collaboration with Ópera de Cámara de Navarra and Colectivo E7.2
● Coda en movimiento. Collaboration with the Mariemma Royal Professional Dance Conservatory of Madrid.
● Soliloquios, a MUN production with the Kukai Dantza company and the participation of Cesc Gelabert, Israel Galván, and Jon Maya.
Co-productions and traveling exhibitions from the collection
● Sala Alcalá 31 with the exhibition Sikka Ingentium by Daniel Canogar.
● Aquarium of San Sebastián with Aurelia Inmortal by Javier Viver.
Loans from the collection
● Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla y León (MUSAC).
● Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla y León and Centro de Arte y Naturalesa (CDAN). Beulas Foundation.
● Picasso Foundation- Birthplace Museum in Málaga.
● Reina Sofía National Art Museum.
● Fondazione Prada, Venice.
● Musée Basque et de l’histoire de Bayonne, France.
Performing Arts Collaborations
● Jakiunde Academy. Erronkak/ Challenges, a series of conferences coordinated by Teresa Catalán, composer, and Igor Urra, director of the Orfeón Pamplonés choir.
● Colectivo E.72 to bring music to the streets of Pamplona with the performance Dispersión/ Concentración (Dispersion/Concentration).
Co-productions and traveling exhibitions of the collection
● Patronato y Generalife de la Alhambra with the exhibition Oriente a Sur: El calotipo y las primeras imágenes fotográficas de la Alhambra (1851-1860) (East to South: The Calotype and the First Photographic Images of the Alhambra (1851-1860)).
● Bombas Gens Centre d'Art with the exhibition Geography of Time by Bleda y Rosa.
● ICO Foundation with the exhibition In the Time of Carlos Cánovas.
Loans from the collection
● Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
● Fundaciò Tàpies, Barcelona
● Cristobal Balenciaga Museum, Getaria
● San Telmo Museum, San Sebastián
● Reina Sofía National Art Museum
● La Nao Cultural Center, University of Valencia
● Centro Centro, Madrid City Council
● Carlism Museum, Estella
● Sala Kubo Kutxa, San Sebastián
● Art and Nature Center, Huesca
Performing Arts Co-production
● The Lamb, Kor’sia. A co-production with Fondazione Musica per Roma
Co-productions and touring exhibitions
● Galician Center for Contemporary Art (CGAC) with Interacciones, by Javier Vallhonrat.
● Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) and The Bluecoat in Liverpool with Nitrato by Xavier Ribas.
● Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris) with Camouflages, by Joan Foncuberta.