VALLADOLID.- The municipal exhibitions hall of Museo de Pasión (Passion Museum) and Iglesia de las Francesas (Church of the French) of Valladolid host from July 16th through August 30th, a selection made up of 36 great works of international artists such as Antoni Tàpies, Rebecca Horn, Jannis Kounellis, Etel Adnan, Pierre Alechinsky, Günther Förg, Nalini Malani, David Nash, Jaume Plensa, Sean Scully, Kiki Smith, Barthélémy Toguo, or Juan Uslé from the funds of the Galerie Lelong in Paris. The exhibition, curated by Maria Toral, was selected exclusively for Valladolid and subsequently won't travel to another cities.

All the artists in this exhibition have, in different degrees, the opportunity to have important personal exhibitions in major museums or foundations from around the world. Currently there is a retrospective of Tàpies at Museum Pérez of Miami; Etel Adnan exhibits now at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin; Pierre Alechinsky, at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid; Kounellis in Milan; Rebecca Horn in Palma de Mallorca; David Nash in Korea... Meanwhile, Sean Scully is located in the Palazzo Falier of Venice and at the National Gallery in Dublin; Nalini Malani at MOMA in New York; Jaume Plensa, at San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, together with museums in Nashville and Ceret; Barthélémy Toguo at the Venice Biennale...

All these artists have show their works widely and do not really need an additional exhibition. Despite this, says Jean Frémon, founder and currently Chairman of the Galerie, "I have felt often that the artists prefer to take part of a collective exhibition more than enjoying a solo exhibition. To be confronted to their peers, elders, youngsters, friends or rivals is a stimulating exercise that they like to do". In addition, he says, "all of them have accepted with enthusiasm the invitation to exhibit together under the banner of the Galerie Lelong, their gallery, which has offered the freedom to expose them in the historical rooms of Valladolid's Museo de la Pasión and Iglesia de las Francesas".

Generations follow one another, decade after decade in this exhibition: the ironic arabesques of Pierre Alechinsky or the bold and full of mystery assemblies of Jannis Kounellis; the refined and subtle balance of Rebecca Horn and the geometric abstractions of Sean Scully; the freedom and grace of Günther Förg besides the pure and abstract landscapes of Etel Adnan; the firm and elegant gesture of David Nash registered in wood or paper; the large and bright compositions of Nalini Malani; the silent figures of Kiki Smith or Jaume Plensa, the febrile Toguo compositions...

Against this background, the Galerie Lelong shows in Valladolid some of the works of his magnificent collection. In this exhibition, which can be seen for the first time in Spain, the public can enjoy a selection of funds of this prestigious gallery -founded in Paris in 1987 by Daniel Lelong, Jean Frémon and Jacques Dupin- and see first-hand some of their most outstanding artists. A philosophy in which artists of different generations and nationalities come together to give meaning to a gallery that has been actively involved all these years and so positively, in different areas of the art world.