BILBAO: PORT & MARKET

How do these paintings whose themes and styles are so different relate to one another? Do they tell a common story? Do they represent distant, opposed worlds? They belong to the same reality: the place portrayed is always Bilbao or the anteiglesias (districts) that surround it, and they depict the different strata and places that made up and fashioned our city. One of Adolfo Guiard's paintings documents the river as an artery of commerce, shipping, and industry; the other, the terrace on the Abra, presents it as gateway and outward horizon. Zubiaurre reveals the world of the village, devoted to agriculture (supplying the town), and entertained with traditional folklore. The other paintings introduce us to that commercial and enterprising bourgeoisie that sets up industrial companies, but also leisure clubs (the Bilbaina, the Philharmonic, the Arriaga Theater, etc.). One needs to take into account this open mindedness towards the future to understand why Paul Gauguin chose Paco Durrio as the executor of his work in 1895, or why Iturrino offered his exhibition space in 1901 to a 20-year-old Picasso, who had just landed in Paris.