Image: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid
The Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga will present ‘Julio González, pintor y dibujante’ in its Sala Noble from 22 October 2026 through 17 January 2027, bringing attention to a comparatively little-known aspect of the Barcelona-born artist’s practice. The exhibition is being developed in collaboration with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
González (Barcelona, 1876–Arcueil, France, 1942) is widely associated with the transformation of modern sculpture, but the Málaga project will focus on his work as a painter and draughtsman. The museum describes these parts of his production as still insufficiently known to the wider public and relatively neglected by specialists, despite their importance to the development of his ideas.
According to the exhibition information, painting and drawing provided a conceptual foundation for González’s sculpture. The presentation will examine how these works address questions that also appear in his three-dimensional practice, including the relationship between modernity and tradition, the structural and volumetric potential of form, abstraction, nature and rural subjects, and the influence of different artistic movements across his career.
The museum places González’s work within a trajectory extending from Noucentisme to the more advanced forms of Cubism and Surrealism. It also frames the exhibition as an exploration of an underexamined chapter of the Parisian avant-garde, while emphasizing the imbalance between the critical attention given to his sculpture and that accorded to his paintings. The format is described as an intimate, cabinet-style exhibition rather than a large-scale survey.
A work identified in the museum’s announcement is ‘Deux femmes (Dos mujeres)’, dating from around 1920–23. The oil on canvas measures 61 by 46.5 centimetres and belongs to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which received it as a donation from Roberta González in 1973. The museum has not published a complete checklist or detailed account of the exhibition’s loans in the available announcement.
The project is scheduled as part of the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga’s programme marking its 15th anniversary. It will follow the opening of ‘¡Olé! El mito de lo español a través de Andalucía’, which is due to begin at the museum on 3 October 2026 and continue until 21 February 2027. González’s exhibition will remain on view in the Sala Noble until 17 January 2027.
