The Paradores’ art collection is history and modernity, and in it you can find great Spanish artists of the 20th century such as Miró, Tapiès and Dalí. On this occasion, to cool down in the summer heat, we would like to highlight Menchu Gal, one of the most important painters of the Madrid School, who has left a large collection of maritime-themed paintings in Paradores.
Menchu Gal (1919-2008, Irún) was one of the leading Spanish painters of the last century, winning the National Painting Prize in 1959, and was the first woman to do so. She was part of the group called the Joven Escuela de Madrid (Young Madrid School) from its founding in 1943, together with other artists of national importance such as Pancho Cosío, Daniel Vázquez Díaz and Benjamín Palencia. Today, she has an exhibition hall named after her in Irún, her hometown. Throughout her career, Menchu Gal mainly cultivated the landscape genre, devoting a large part of her production to sea scenes, boats and beaches, characteristic of her region. Her paintings stand out for the study of colour and the use of free and striking tonalities, which give great intensity to her work.
In Paradores, we are fortunate to have an important collection of her works, which can be found in several establishments in our network: in Gijón, due to its association with the Cantabrian Sea; in Santiago, as part of the exhibition dedicated to the Madrid School; in Jávea, one of the great maritime and beach locations in Spain; in León, associated with the enormous collection of contemporary art that takes up the three floors of the Parador's café hall; and in other places such as Limpias and Fray Bernardo.
But of course, the Parador art collection has many other great collections of maritime art to discover, such as in Baiona, where a succession of historical paintings of ships and naval battles festoon the Parador’s corridors and rooms. In short, art follows you wherever you go at Paradores, you just have to get ready to explore it!
