In the heart of Chillida-Leku stands the old restored farmhouse, which in turn embraces the heart of the artist’s work. Inside these walls are Chillida’s small and medium works arranged in such as way that visitors can take an impressive and awe inspir-ing journey through half a century of creation. Visitors are enveloped in the unique atmosphere of a farmhouse with nearly 500 years of history, a magical place reincarnated as another one of the sculptor’s works of art.

On the ground floor visitors will find a selection of the artist’s work created over the last 20 years. These are corten steel, alabaster, granite and terracotta pieces which carry on a special kind of conversation with the felt ‘gravitations’ hanging from the stone walls. Moving chronologically, room 2 has plaster works made in Paris from 1948 to 1951, as well as iron pieces cast by the artist in Hernani after returning from the French capital. Drawings from this period accompany the sculptures, a vivid expression of the birth of the Chillida we know today.

The journey continues through the house that seems to have captured Chillida’s soul. In room 3 we find public works projects, some built to monumental scale and others which never made it beyond the project stage. Along with these works are a number of alabaster pieces dating from the Sixties, a large terracotta and copper oxide mural, and a series of hand draw-ings, so characteristic of Chillida. Room 4 reveals Chillida’s most intimate and personal work, with his 1985 ‘gravitations’ in which the idea of drawing takes on a whole new dimension. We also find the artist’s smaller terracotta pieces, which were later used to create a number of gran- ite sculptures.

Visitors leave the farmhouse with the feeling of having visited something between a sanctuary and a home. As they step back outside, the intense greenery of the estate and the balance between steel and granite reunites them with the landscape. This is when the public seems to feel most at home at the museum; visitors take pictures of each other next to the sculptures, children play around the works of art and Chillida-Leku comes alive. This is not a place for passive visitors like in other musuems, but for active spectators who move, talk and listen to the sculptures.

This text belongs to the book " A utopia come true " written by Mitxel Ezquiaga.

 

History of the Museum · Zabalaga Farmhouse