‘Zóbel: The Future of the Past’ brings to light the renowned modernist’s artistic journey and impact on the local and global art scenes

”The original exhibition at the Prado was an important opportunity for the Spanish National Museum to illustrate how the study of the past remains relevant to the development of artists of every generation,” Pereda said. “ Zóbel was a prime example of this. Before arriving at his fresh and innovative approach to painting and understanding of art, he studied and contemplated the works of old masters, ancient calligraphy, archaeological objects, literature, etc.”

The exhibition features a section dedicated to Zóbel’s life as an academician at Harvard University and Ateneo de Manila University, his exploration of ancient calligraphy culminating in his Black Series, his dialogues with the works of the Old Masters from his frequent visits to museums and galleries with a sketchbook in hand, his penchant for photography that resulted in his colourful paintings of football, and his iconic La Vista work from the White Series and its many versions.

The Ayala Museum chronicled the life of Zóbel with a timeline and a complementary section that showcases his personal collections of books and calligraphy, as well as a video loop narrating one of his journals over his sketchbook drawings.

“Zóbel was a man beyond borders,” Del Junco said. “His experience of being born of Spanish lineage in the Philippines, educated in the US, and living and practising in Europe—notably at historically significant times politically, socially, and artistically—are all manifest in his character and, ultimately, his art.”

The impact of Zóbel is evident in the promotion of modern art, his being an eloquent and erudite advocate and creating spaces for the discourse to thrive. “Zóbel enabled a new generation of young minds to encounter modern art with receptiveness and critical thinking,” Pereda adds. In addition to teaching art appreciation classes and lecturing in both countries, his establishment of modern art museums (Ateneo Art Gallery in 1960 and the Museum of Spanish Modern Art in 1966) canonised works of art that were once perceived as radical.

“The exhibition is both artistic and documentary and, in a sense, takes us to the time and place when Zóbel saw the works of artists like Rubens, Caravaggio, and Goya,” Del Junco said. The Diálogos series—in which Zóbel “converses” with paintings he was drawn to and paints them as he saw them or as he remembered seeing them—presents a singular way of seeing and remembering. “His sketches also reveal what the painter thought was worth further artistic inquiry. We’ll also see more intimate images—scenes from everyday life and countryside views. Here, the artist explored how to capture mood, movement, and atmosphere on canvas without simply recreating the image before him,” he adds.

Some differences from the Prado exhibition that propelled the curators and its designer, Pedro Feduchi Cañosa, to re-think the curatorial approach were Zóbel’s El Cristo de Lepanto and his dialogue with the Asian contemporary artists. 

El Cristo de Lepanto was from a private collection in the United States that wasn't included in the Prado show due to the mobility restriction brought on by the pandemic. It is marked as the most ambitious painting of Zóbel from the 1960s era and is a large-scale interpretation of Juan Luna’s iconic painting, which still hangs in the Senate Hall in Spain.

“It is where he introduced colour in his big oil paintings,” Pereda explained. “The other element that I’d like to mention is that in the exhibition at Prado, the Asian dialogue was based on the works from the Harvard army museums. Those couldn’t travel, but I kind of not regret that because they have been replaced with Zóbel’s collections of Japanese and Chinese calligraphy scrolls. This put much more emphasis on the Asian component of his visual language,” he adds.

Del Junco also added that because they couldn’t use now most of the original Juan van der Hamen paintings from the Prado collection, they recreated Zóbel’s dialogue with the Old Masters using his personal collection of books.

“Sometimes, he worked on the paintings of the tradition based on books, usually in real situations inside museums. That’s important to note—that he didn’t make a difference between painting in front of Las Melinas or The Spinners and now working on a reproduction of a Pieter Saenredam painting or whatever. He worked on his reproductions referring to photos in his books and had a deeper understanding of the artists. Furthermore, in his own practice in his later years, he continued relying on photography, and that connects to his photo albums of particular places or moments in his life that we also see rendered on canvases in his later life.”

Filipinos are no strangers to diaspora—it is ingrained in our memory and attitudes as a maritime culture and remains relevant to our experience today. We have always been open-minded and receptive to the world, likewise friendly, generous, optimistic, and resourceful. 

“As we learn more about Zóbel’s life and work, we find these are all traits Zóbel embodied,” said Mariles Gustilo, senior director of Ayala Museum. “Another takeaway from the exhibition is that Zóbel, from the past, has invited us to go out, visit a museum, take a look at paintings, and get comfortable with documenting all the ideas that arise. At a time of short attention spans and seemingly endless stimuli, we can all still, as Zóbel would say, learn how to see.”

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