Museo Carmen Thyssen

"The northern sun". Summer Days Gallery talks

4 June
Javier Viar
Director, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

The northern sun
From the time when painting outdoors started to prevail over the creation of works in the studio, capturing the effects of natural light became the principal concern of artists. Every location, however, had its own, unique light. Accustomed to the intensity and relative uniformity of the Mediterranean sun, painters from southern and eastern Spain approached their art in a way different to that of the northern masters, who faced the challenge of a constantly changing light that moved from grey and cold to warm and white from one instant to the next.