The museum of Fine Arts The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum was established in 1908 and opened in 1914, guided by the will to modernize individuals and adapt to the cultural moment that the city lived. Its main objectives was to provide a space which at that time was considered essential in any modern society and provide historical role models to the local arts community that would help to complete and develop their training. Indeed, the most important impetus for the realization of the project was the contribution by the legacy of an extensive art collection of great value by the entrepreneur and philanthropist Laureano Jado. Jado was followed soon by other major donations of Antonio Plasencia, the House of Meetings of Guernica or the consulate of Bilbao. The Bilbao painter Manuel Losada is also considered one of the main promoters of the museum, and he became the director of the first office in the School of Arts and Crafts Village, located in the building of the former Civil Hospital in Achuri.
The museum of Modern Art Through contacts of young artists with other art centers, and thanks mainly to the increasingly common regular schedule of exhibitions of contemporary art, organized on many occasions by the newly created Association of Basque Artists, a growing concern about the so-called "modern art" took place in the social and cultural environment of the city, enabling the creation of another center dedicated solely to contemporary art. Thus, on October 25, 1924 the Museum of Modern Art opened its doors where previously the Conservatory of Music was installed, owned by the council. The new museum was born with a distinctly innovative spirit of its time and, in fact, the updating of the criteria and the risk assumed with the museum initiatives differentiate the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum from the rest of museums located in Spain. The International Exhibition of 1919, held in the building of "Berastegui schools", was a key factor behind the birth of this initiative. Apart from the relevant list of national and international artists who participated in it, there was also a strong commitment from the organizers with contemporary art, shown with the acquisition by the Council of a significant set of pieces such as the work of Cassatt, Gauguin, Sidaner, Cottet, Serusier, and Spanish Anglada Camarasa, Nonell and Canals among others, and eventually entering the museum collection. Following the tradition of the directors-artists, the Basque painter Aurelio Arteta would be named director, who remained in front of it until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936.
The new building The war affected unequally to the two museums. While the Museum of Fine Arts moved to Deposito Franco Uribitarte in Bilbao, works in the Museum of Modern Art were expatriated. The recovery of the works was an urgent determination of the new power and once achieved that goal a new need emerged to study a different location for the museum. The same year 1939 when the war ended, the County Council and the City Council reached an agreement to jointly fund the construction of the new building in the so-called park of the Three Nations (current Doña Casilda Park). The building, designed by the young architect Fernando Urrutia and Gonzalo Cárdenas, and probably inspired by the great historical museums including the Prado with neoclassic forms, combining stone and red brick. The work was completed in 1945 and in 1962 was declared "Monumento Nacional".
Extensions of the museum With the aim of adding a new wing to the neoclassical building, the architects Alvaro Lebanon and Ricardo de Beascoa Jauregui reformed the museum with minimalist lines and modern materials such as metal and glass. This new architecture was inaugurated in 1970, staying since the contemporary art section. The museum has also undertaken various works of enlargement and improvement to enable new spaces and facilities (exhibition hall, auditorium, cabinet graphics) and the provision of new services (Restoration Department, Cataloguing, Documentation and Education, as well as a library, film library, bookstore and cafeteria). In the late nineties proprietary institutions such as the Bilbao City Council, the Provincial Council of Vizcaya and the Basque Government, aware of the growing importance of cultural facilities in the city, promoted the "Reform and Expansion Plan" at the Museum. In 1996, under the direction of Miguel Zugaza and pursuing the improvement of facilities and services, a link between the original building and its extension was added, respecting the existing architectures. In addition, to gain space for the expansion of visitor services and exhibition spaces, the entrances to the museum were also modified, placing them in the reformed Square Monument to Arriaga and the new "Plaza Chillida". The works were completed in November 2001.
Recent history In December 2000, the institutions agreed to create the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Foundation. The governing body is the Board, in which representatives of the institutions are integrated with other natural or legal persons who, for their input or knowledge of the museum activity, promote the achievement of foundational purposes. In October 2008, under the slogan "100 years of history, 10 centuries of art", the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum celebrated its centenary. In May 2009, the mayor of Bilbao
Iñaki Azkuna publicly commented on the opportunity to undertake further expansions. Due to the difficulties and limitations of extending the building once again, a second placement was found where the newest art pieces are still stored. Today the museum has a total area of 13,914 m2, of which 5,089 are distributed in 33 rooms for the permanent collection, temporary exhibitions in 1142 and the rest in domestic and care visitor services.
Miguel Zugaza, formerly director of the
Prado Museum, is currently director of the museum since 2017. In 2019, architecture firms
Foster + Partners and LM Urirate were selected over six other teams to design the future expansion and remodeling of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. The expansion is to add over of new galleries within an open and flexible floor plan. The expansion is scheduled to be opened in the summer of 2026. == Collection ==