Pinazo at the IVAM
The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) holds the largest public collection of the painter Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench (Valencia, 1849–1916), with nearly 100 paintings and almost 400 drawings that offer a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of modern Valencian art. For the IVAM, Pinazo represents the transition between the pictorial tradition of the nineteenth century and the expressive explorations of the twentieth, and his presence in the institution has become a fundamental point of reference for the study of Spanish fin-de-siècle painting.
Over the years, the museum has devoted numerous exhibitions to his work, reasserting his role as a pioneer of modernity. The most recent, Pinazo: identidades (Pinazo: Identities) (2024–2025), curated by Vicente Pla Vivas, brings together some three hundred works including paintings, drawings and texts by the artist himself.
The exhibition is structured around three sections exploring personal identity, collective identity and visual memory, offering a contemporary reading of his thought. Presented in the Sala de la Muralla, this exhibition refreshes our understanding of Pinazo and underscores his capacity to anticipate the languages of modernism. Earlier exhibitions curated by Francisco Javier Pérez Rojas, such as Afinidades electivas (Elective Affinities) (2016), Maestro del dibujo (Master of Drawing) (2014), and Pinazo y la acuarela (Pinazo and Watercolour) (2009), revealed his most experimental facet and his influence on the avant-garde movements. In parallel, the IVAM has carried out a sustained programme of conservation, restoration and scholarly study of his work, ensuring his permanent presence in the collection. The museum’s Sala Pinazo today offers a dedicated permanent space for his legacy, where visitors can appreciate his mastery of portraiture, colour and Mediterranean light. Through his intimate gaze on everyday life, Pinazo reasserts himself as a living and relevant artist in the twenty-first century. His work connects the Valencian past with contemporary sensibilities and stands as one of the cornerstones of the IVAM’s artistic identity.
