The exhibition, curated by José Luis Romero and José María Luna, brings together around a hundred pieces from the Renaissance to the 20th century at the Cultural Centre of Plaza del Obispo.
The Unicaja Foundation has launched a new exhibition proposal that invites visitors to discover how art has represented music throughout the centuries. Under the title And the Music Played. Musical Iconography in Art, the exhibition was inaugurated this Tuesday at the Cultural Centre of Plaza del Obispo, in the heart of Málaga, and will remain open until November 2.
The exhibition features around a hundred pieces from various collections, both public and private, and traces a journey that spans from the Renaissance to the 20th century. The common thread is the ability of painters and sculptors to capture such an intangible phenomenon as sound, transforming the silence of the halls into a visual journey through music.
The director of Cultural Activities at the Unicaja Foundation, José María Luna, highlighted during the presentation that the exhibition invites reflection on an apparent contradiction: "The instruments are silent, but the viewer ends up hearing the music through the works." This idea serves as a guide for a journey in which painting, sculpture, ceramics, or drawing show how art has been able to make sound visible.
The exhibition is organised into several thematic areas. One of them is dedicated to the mythological and allegorical world, featuring scenes starring ancient gods competing to demonstrate their musical prowess. Among the highlighted works is Comedy Characters: Allegory of Music, a painting created in 1916 by Denis Belgrano to decorate the ceiling of a bourgeois home.
Another space addresses the role of women in musical iconography, particularly through their relationship with the piano, an instrument that for centuries was linked to education and the female domestic sphere. The guitar also has its own section, where it takes centre stage as a symbol of Spanish popular culture and flamenco.
The figure of the musician also occupies a prominent place. Among the works is the representation of a blind musician playing the hurdy-gurdy, an instrument historically associated with itinerant performers, reflecting the importance these characters had in the dissemination of popular music.
The exhibition also pays tribute to Pablo Picasso, reviewing how music was present in various stages of his artistic career, from analytical and synthetic cubism to his classical period, where musical instruments frequently appear as compositional elements.
The journey also delves into the religious dimension of music. Angels, saints, and virgins appear accompanied by instruments such as the viola da gamba, one of the most used during the Baroque, or the harp and lute, associated with celestial scenes. Among the most relevant pieces is The Virgin of the Sash, a work by Murillo that represents a daily scene of a mother dressing her child, exemplifying how the painter humanised sacred themes to bring them closer to the viewer.
The exhibition has been curated by art historian José Luis Romero and José María Luna himself. Both have worked to provide a broad and educational view of how music has been represented in art over the centuries, combining pieces from different eras and styles.
The Cultural Centre of the Unicaja Foundation in Plaza del Obispo thus becomes a space where art and music converse, offering Málaga residents and visitors a unique opportunity to explore this relationship. Admission is free, and visiting hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00, and Sundays from 10:00 to 14:00.
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