MADRID.- The House of Alba Foundation inaugurates Flamboyant Joana Vasconcelos at the Liria Palace, a unique project in the history of the palace created by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, one of the most outstanding figures on the contemporary art scene. The exhibition, which runs from 14 February to 31 July, marks the start of an ambitious programme of contemporary art sponsored by the Foundation to coincide with its 50th anniversary.

Internationally renowned for her sculptures and monumental installations, the Lisbon-based artist transforms the halls and gardens of Liria Palace and merges them with one of the world’s most distinguished private collections of historical art. Un like the artist’s similar interventions in other palaces such as Versailles, the Uffizi in Florence or Ajuda in Lisbon, this is the first time that Joana Vasconcelos has brought her works to an inhabited palace.

The artist’s proposed exhibition at the Liria Palace opens a special dialogue not only between her works and those of great masters such as Velázquez, Goya or Tiziano, which are exhibited in its rooms, but also between her own personality and that of the Duke of Alba, present in every corner of this palace, which is also his home.

With this in mind, the artist has selected more than forty of her works and integrated them perfectly into the different spaces of the palace, some of which have never been visited before, such as the chapel, the music room and the gardens. “The Liria Palace is not a repository of history, but a living space that adjusts to contemporary contexts while preserving its essence,” says Vasconcelos, who is keen to establish a dialogue between contemporary art and the palace’s legacy.

The exhibition is organised by the House of Alba Foundation and Atelier Joana Vasconcelos, with the support of Madrid City Council and the Community of Madrid, the backing of Mastercard and the patronage of the House of Dior, which has been working closely with the artist for more than ten years, giving rise to collaborations such as J’Adore Miss Dior, which is on show at the exhibition, or her recent exhibition at the brand’s new boutique in the city of Lisbon.

A dialogue between past and present

The Liria Palace, which belongs to the House of Alba, dates from the 18th century and was largely built by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, making it one of the most important neoclassical palaces in Madrid. Since then it has been the residence of the Dukes of Berwick and Alba and in 2019 it opened its doors to the public to share its rich historical and artistic heritage with society.

Joana Vasconcelos’ artistic intervention in the palace spreads throughout its main halls and includes rooms not opened to visitors until now. “By showing my work in these spaces, I am inviting visitors to experience the palace as active participants in a transformative artistic dialogue,” explains the artist. “My installations seek to engage with the works of masters such as Velázquez and Goya, exploring how contemporary art can reinterpret their contributions and enrich our understanding of history”.

The Duke of Alba, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, has a long tradition of patronage, as did his ancestors, who mingled with and sponsored the most prominent artists of their time, and he insists that it is “practically a duty to open the house to contemporary art with one of the world’s leading artists. In this intervention, the portraits of my ancestors, signed by great masters such as Goya, Tiziano, Rubens, Zuloaga and Madrazo, coexist with the surprising work of Joana Vasconcelos, bringing together the past and the present”.

The starting point of Joana Vasconcelos’ proposal is the hall of the palace with two lions: Vigoroso e Poderoso (2006-2024). These imposing guardians, made of cement and covered in crochet, mark the start of a tour that takes visitors to the most intimate corners of the palace, such as the chapel, which is open to the public for the first time and contains the artist’s famous Flaming Heart (2019-2022).

An example of how the artist’s work interacts with the palace’s history and collection is Carmen (2001), a striking iron lamp covered in black velvet. This work has been housed in the library of the Liria Palace, where a handwritten letter to the Countess of Montijo is kept, signed by Prosper Mérimée, author of the novel of the same name, adapted by Georges Bizet into the opera which, in turn, inspired this work. The piece, made up of several rows of multicoloured hoop earrings like those worn by the Sevillian dancers, also features the voice of María Callas singing the famous aria L’amour est un oiseau rebelle.

From the traditional to the popular and the everyday, other installations highlight the historical value of the Liria Palace and evoke Spain’s past, such as the Coraçao Independente Preto (2006), one of his most well-known creations, of which there are three versions: red, gold and black. Displayed in the Spanish room, the artist has chosen her version of the heart in black, alluding to the signature colour of the Spanish court during the Golden Age.

From her iconic Marilyn (2011) to the most recent Valkyrie Thyra (2023) or Familia Feliz #2 (2023), to J’Adore Miss Dior (2013) –a work created in collaboration with Dior and made using bottles of the French brand’s iconic fragrance– the exhibition also includes new pieces created specifically for the occasion. In the Zuloaga room visitors can see Velázquez and Goya (2024), two new works from the artist’s series of wolf figures, which on this occasion engage in a dialogue with the portraits that Zuloaga painted of several members of the House of Alba and which are exhibited in the hall.

Visitors will also be able to access the gardens, which are normally closed to the pub lic, and admire La Théière (2025) for the first time, a new work in wrought iron and ornamental vegetation in the form of a large teapot surrounded by jasmine.

Art on a small scale

Besides this exhaustive tour of the colossal works of Vasconcelos at the Liria Palace, Flamboyant is an opportunity to discover other facets of the artist’s work, such as jewellery, drawings, models, etc., and ‘small-scale’ works, which are housed in the temporary exhibition hall of the palace, mostly selected from Atelier Joana Vasconcelos and on loan from Baró Galería.

This space allows the public to return to some of the artist’s signature materials, such as crochet or ceramic tiles in works such as Gestalt (2017), BomBom (2020) and Hypercube (2014). But there are also other aspects of her work, such as jewellery, with the refined Extravaganza (2022) necklaces –in sterling silver, red ceramic lacquer and rubber– and Vortex (2013), made of gold and 302 rubies, the Tríptico Alfa (2019) series of drawings or the silver-plated brass sculptures A Joanina (2014) and Bouquet (2024).

In addition, this room offers visitors the opportunity to learn more about Vasconcelos’ work through the models of her pieces, which suggest and give an insight into the creative process behind them. On show are different versions of some of her most iconic works, such as Bolo de Noiva, as well as some of the pieces in the exhibition itself, such as Solitário, the large ring installed in the gardens.

Visual and emotional impact

Influenced by Nouveau Réalisme, Vasconcelos’s work is characterised by a desire to reconnect art with life, using everyday or craft materials such as tiles, traditional embroidery or ceramics, often decontextualised in terms of scale and use of colour.

“Her work is always intimate, captivating and stimulating the viewer with a sense of humour or irony that has nothing to do with cynical detachment. Its impact is visual —it is colourful and baroque— and also emotional,” explains Enrique Juncosa, who wrote the texts for the exhibition catalogue published by Ediciones El Viso.

With the aim of “showing how contemporary art can revive historical spaces and foster a deeper appreciation of their relevance and vitality”, in the words of Vasconcelos, the works have been carefully selected to establish links with the collection and history preserved in each of the rooms, creating a balanced contrast between the bold Baroque forms of Vasconcelos and the order and balance of the palace. “Bridging the classical and the contemporary, this exhibition aims to celebrate the dual role of the Liria Palace as a custodian of history and as a space for cultural reinvention,” says the artist.

Joana Vasconcelos, Dior and the Liria Palace, a long-standing collaboration

This is not the first time that Dior, the sponsor of the exhibition, has collaborated with Joana Vasconcelos on a specific project. The ties between the Lisbon artist and the French fashion house date back to 2013, when she was invited to create a work of art in the form of a giant pink bow —J’Adore Miss Dior — for an exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the emblematic Miss Dior perfume. Since then, Vasconcelos and the French House have crossed paths at various times over the years.

In 2019, Dior and Vasconcelos reunited for the fourth edition of Dior Lady Art, an initiative through which the House promotes the dialogue between fashion and contemporary art through its iconic Lady Dior bag. For the occasion, the artist crafted a unique work by transporting the bag to her personal universe.

In 2023, Vasconcelos was again invited by the House’s artistic director of Women’s collections, Maria Grazia Chiuri, to design the monumental Valkyrie Miss Dior for the autumn-winter 2023/24 collection fashion show, held in the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris. Dior’s relationship with the Valkyrie series has continued ever since, as evidenced by the work Valkyrie Thyra (2023), which is on show in the exhibition and was produced in collaboration with the House, and the Valkyrie Dior, which was installed on the staircase of its new Lisbon boutique during the exhibition of her works in 2024.

Just as Dior and Joana Vasconcelos share a history, this is not the first time the Maison has collaborated with the House of Alba. In 1959, Yves Saint Laurent launched Trapèze, his first collection as artistic director of Christian Dior Couture, which was presented at the Liria Palace during his international tour.

The grand pageant, which took place on the night of 14th April, was attended by more than 2,000 guests, with the Duchess Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart as the grand hostess, allowing them to admire the entire collection, made up of 115 outfits, ten of which were donated for the benefit of the Salesian schools. Yves Saint Laurent was accompanied at the event by Suzanne Luling, director of Dior’s haute couture salons and a close childhood friend of the late Christian Dior, and their star model at the time, the French-Argentinian Kouka Denis, ‘Kouka’.

Born in 1971, Joana Vasconcelos is a Portuguese visual artist with a career spanning over 30 years, during which she has achieved international recognition thanks to her sculptures and large-scale installations in such prestigious institutions as the Palace of Versailles, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Venice Biennale, the Uffizi Galleries and the Pitti Palace, among others. Her work is characterised by the decontextualization of everyday objects and the adaptation of the concept of artisanship to the 21st century to generate a dialogue between the private sphere and the public space, popular heritage and high culture. In this way she questions the status of women, consumer society and collective identity with humour and irony.