Martín Chirino Art and Thought Foundation

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Museums · Year: 2015

"When I saw it inside I thought it was the most beautiful space where my work would be" .

Martín Chirino (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1925-2019) dedicated these words to the Castillo de La Luz on 28 March 2015, the date on which this historic building located on the isthmus of La Isleta in the Atlantic city that saw his birth, became the headquarters of the Martín Chirino Art and Thought Foundation.

This building, the first fortification built by the Castilians on the islands (1478), is, thanks to the project by architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano, a multipurpose space whose main function is to "contextualise, catalogue and disseminate the master's work," explains Jesús María Castaño, director of the Foundation. For this, the sculptor chose 25 works from his private collection that represent a review of his career and integrate naturally into the space. Chirino deposited these works with the City Council, which has set out to acquire them and over time increase this legacy.

The sculptor returned to his home as a thinker and artist, as a craftsman and cultivated man after what he called "an initiatory journey" he undertook many years ago, recalling the one made by Ulysses. "I am happy to inaugurate this Foundation with which we want to make the Canary Islands a cultural reference, not only in Spain but in the world" .

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