Manolo Valdés: Las Meninas in Naples, Naples

The Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN), in collaboration with the Ministry of Arts and Culture and with Contini Art Gallery is proud to present from September 27th, 2023, to January 6th, 2024, a personal exhibition of Master Manolo Valdés. This occasion marks the first time the famed Spanish artist will exhibit in Naples and in the South of Italy. Manolo Valdés’ sculptures will be complimented by the light and richness of the architecture of the majestic Salone della Meridiana, once known as Gran Salone. 

The majestic halls of MANN will become home to ten “Reina Mariana” and a monumental “Infanta Margarita, which give tridimensionality to Velázquez’s subjects. These renditions in bronze embody the famed portraits of Maria Anna of Austria and Margherita Maria Teresa of Asburgo. These iconographies have been so often reconceived by Manolo Valdés that they almost became the artist’s signature motif.
These masterpieces are symbols of the Master’s novel visual language. He forges matter by changing our perception of images that, traditionally painted, now take on a new identity shaped by our shared culture.