Lorenzo Aguirre was born in Pamplona in 1885. When he was three, his family moved to Alicante, a place that would reveal the sea to him and inspire many of his canvases. It was here that he learned to wield a brush, shaping a childhood and youth around the colors and light of the coast. After finishing his studies at the Madrid San Fernando Academy, he continued his training in Paris. His family kept a private collection containing some of his most personal paintings and objects, and that collection was publicly donated this Tuesday at the Gravina Museum of Fine Arts in Alicante.
The donation was realized through the author José Luis Ferris, a close family friend, and the Alicante poet Francisca Aguirre, daughter of a painter, along with her husband Felix Grande and her daughter Guadeloupe. The legacy includes 115 works by the artist, created before 1942, a period marked by his exile to France and the oppression of Francoist Spain due to his ties to the Republican government.
The Reina Sofía Museum holds many Aguirre works, yet Mubag previously possessed only two: a portrait and a poster featuring Moors and Christians. Now the collection has grown to include 39 images, 73 drawings (mostly humorous), two posters, an illustrated story, and a dozen personal belongings such as an easel, a palette, cameras, and diplomas. These items form part of the acquisitions at the Alicante museum, praised as a true gift for the city. Ferris described it as a moment of happiness for the family, echoed by Francisca Aguirre’s brother-in-law.
Ignacio Grande Lara, Félix Grande’s brother, who has embraced Aguirre’s legacy in recent years, spoke of a sense of pride in bringing Lorenzo Aguirre’s work to Mubag. He called it one of the most meaningful efforts of his life, saving the artist’s work for the city.
Next exhibition
Jorge Soler, speaking for Mubag’s director, announced that the entire collection will undergo careful restoration and be prepared for a future display. An exhibition is planned for 2025, and Mubag notes that Aguirre’s is among the largest donated collections in its history.
Three hundred new works were included in Mubag
The Deputy of Culture, Juan de Dios Navarro, thanked the Aguirre family for the generosity. He emphasized that this gesture will enlarge the museum and the city, and that the collection will be managed with respect and care, mirroring Mubag’s established standards. The upcoming exhibition will be curated by Maria Gazabat, a Mubag technician who has overseen the Ferris and Mubag collections.
To collect
Gazabat notes that the works donated span 1904 to 1942 and include oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings. The collection highlights the artist’s family portraits, scenes of Alicante and Normandy, along with some of his sharper, more satirical drawings. Religious pieces, still lifes, and nudes are represented, as are two early drafts intended for a ceiling decoration in a room of the Alicante Provincial Council from 1931.
A folder within the legacy contains 88 pencil drawings of Aguirre’s daughter Jesusa, reflecting the artist’s figurative bent with French influences and Art Nouveau touches. Gazabat describes Aguirre as versatile, capturing the realities of his era in images that range from affectionate family scenes to provocative humor.
Ferris notes that Aguirre is part of the generation of artists active in the first third of the 20th century, alongside figures like Zuloaga, Vázquez Díaz, and Emilio Varela in Alicante. He stresses that their high artistic quality earned them medals in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in Madrid, even as they faced a later period of forgetfulness.
Big project
The aim is to safeguard the artist’s legacy in Alicante and ensure Aguirre’s work reaches new generations. Ferris envisions a larger project that could culminate in a Silver Age interpretive center, joining other notable Alicante names such as Óscar Esplá, Gabriel Miró, Sempere, Azorín, and Varela. Institutional leaders are urged to collaborate to make this vision a reality.