Last days of "Marina Abramović. Portrait and performance in the Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation Collection"

Since the inauguration of Marina Abramović. Portrait and performance in the Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias, the exhibition has received more than 31,000 visits. This exhibition, which can be seen until September 4, is co-organized with the Foundation and curated by Alfonso Palacio and is conceived as a small but select exhibition that brings together a total of nine works by the Serbian artist: seven from the Foundation Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson and two owned by its president, Fernando Masaveu.

The nine selected pieces record part of Marina Abramović's artistic career: from the age of seventy, when she performed some of the most important performances of her career together with fellow artist and colleague Ulay, until the coming 2018 , the year Self Portrait with Quartz Crystal, the only sculpture present, is dated. The group chosen is also an excellent representation of the contemporary art collection treasured by the Maria Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation. A fund that features pieces by emerging creators alongside established artists such as Marina Abramović herself, Golden Lion of the 1997 Venice Biennale and Princess of Asturias Prize for the Arts in 2021.

The works on display represent a unique opportunity to learn about the work of this international artist. Likewise, they allow you to take a tour of some of the milestones in his career that have turned him, in the words of curator Alfonso Palacio, "into one of the great names in world creation and a true pioneer and figure in the art of the performance". The first three works include some of his actions together with Ulay, who was his partner and artistic partner between 1976 and 1988. It is Interruption in Space, a photograph belonging to the set that documented the performance carried out by both artists at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in January 1977; Breathing In-Breathing Out, developed in April 1977 at the Studentski Kulturni Centar (SKC) in Belgrade, and finally Relation in Time, a snapshot recording the performance carried out in the summer of 1977 at the Studio gallery Bologna G7.

The rest of the works present embody Abramović's work alone. First, a piece titled Image of Happiness is on display, dated 1998 and linked to a video made by Abramović two years earlier. Holding the Goat marks the path traveled by the Serbian artist at the beginning of the 21st century and belongs to the Back to Simplicity series, to which Looking at the Mountains also corresponds. The penultimate of the works corresponds to the years 2013-2014. This is The Scream, Ekeberg Park, a photograph with which Abramović pays homage to the birth of Edvard Munch. Finally, the exhibition closes with this sculpture, undoubtedly one of the most unique pieces of the entire project.