Evaristo Valley Museum

Latitude: 43.5340042 Length: -5.6208372
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According to Lafuente Ferrari: «There are painters who, although very gifted in their art, need many trials before finding their own voice. I say his voice and not his world, because that was imposed on Valle from his early years; the sweet and humid nature of Asturias, the humble life, attached to the earth, the melancholy of the acid greens under the leaden clouds, the village peace in contrast to the artificial existence of the city ... »

A product of his time, like Zuloaga, Pérez de Ayala, and others, Valle was more interested in the human characteristics of his subjects than in individualistic realism. He captured the temperament and sociological context of his models and presented them in the environment where both were best reflected: the sailor chatting by the nets, the gossipy women whispering, the lady surrounded by servants or chaplains… in other words, Evaristo Valle painted people more than men . Therefore, he didn't need the physical presence of his models, but rather their memory. However, the habits of painters contemporary to Valle were quite different: model and studio, workshop and model. When, during one of his most prolific creative periods in the 20s, someone in Gijón asked him if he painted from memory, Valle replied: “I don't recall ever painting a picture without having seen it beforehand in real life, and looking at it and looking at it and feeling and feeling its line, its color, and its beauty, it has sometimes moved me so much that tears welled up in my eyes to see it.”

The Evaristo Valle Museum is the result of the affection and generosity of the painter's niece, María Rodríguez del Valle , who since his death in 1951 treasured with admirable zeal works, personal objects and documents of the artist that today make up the museum's collections.

Over a hundred of Valle's works are on permanent display , organized chronologically, thematically, or technically, allowing us to explore his profound, varied, and rich legacy in drawing and painting . Alongside the reconstruction of his studio, visitors can also see the evocative collection of seashells the painter inherited from his father.

His early paintings made in Paris from 1903 onwards, such as The Orgy , others from the middle of the first decade of the century such as The Sick Granddaughter and The Philosopher ; or his family portraits, works as serious and profound as the portraits of the painter's grandmother and mother, the latter being the only work that always remained hanging in his studio and that was repeatedly modified.

After his definitive return to Gijón, key works within his production, with paintings as important as those of the series The Boxes , Carnival Dance , The Colt in the Corral and Elegant People of Gijón ; from these onwards the landscape and the people of Asturias would always be present, aware that in this corner of the world, due to "its simple complexity" and its absolutely unique experiential characteristics, they possessed more than enough capacity to supply his creative imagination with sufficient arsenal to develop a work with universal reach.

The two museum buildings are located within splendid gardens, a blend of French and English gardening , which, with more than 16.000 square meters, retain, after a century, a good part of the layout, ornamental elements and many of its 120 different species of trees and shrubs, mostly native.

The museum thus forms an incomparable setting, imbued with melancholy, perfectly in tune with both the work and personality of Evaristo Valle and that of its founder . The gardens display more than twenty sculptures, primarily by contemporary artists, and include a space for the contemplation and study of birds and another dedicated to bonsai.

Museo Evaristo Valle opening hours

WINTER SCHEDULE (OCTOBER-MARCH)
Tuesday to Friday, from 10.00:13.00 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 12.00:14.00 to XNUMX:XNUMX.

APRIL, MAY, JUNE AND SEPTEMBER
Tuesday to Friday, from 10.00 a.m. to 13.00 p.m. Saturdays, from 17.00:20.00 p.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Sundays and holidays from 12.00 to 14.00 h.

JULY AND AUGUST
Tuesday to Saturday, from 17.00:20.00 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Sundays and holidays from 12.00 to 14.00 h.

CLOSING DAYS OF THE MUSEUM
On Mondays and on January 1st and 6th and December 24th, 25th and 31st.

· Consult the schedule of guided tours and educational activities.

Evaristo Valle Museum Rates

GENERAL €5
REDUCED €3 Students, retirees, over 65s and groups.
FREE Friends of the museum, Tuesdays and children under 12 accompanied by an adult.
· EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS €3
GUIDED TOURS €30 Evaristo Valle, historical gardens and sculpture park, temporary exhibitions ... Subject to guide availability.
· PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC REPORTS €50 At a time to be agreed.

Source: Evaristo Valle Museum, Gijón.