“The Underlying Image” is now open to the public!

The Museo de Arte de Ponce and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) are proud to announce the opening of the new exhibition “The Underlying Image,” a project resulting from the renewed collaborative alliance between the institutions. This exhibition, organized by Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, curator of the Museo de Arte de Ponce, will be on view at the Church’s Gallery of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in Santurce from April 4 through August 18, 2024.

 

“The Underlying Image” invites the public to enjoy a unique experience by revealing the secrets hidden beneath the surface of ten paintings from the Museo de Arte de Ponce’s collection, dating from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. These works, created in Spain, Flanders, France, Holland, and Italy, will be presented along with X-rays, Infrared Photography, and Transmitted infrared photography, therefore offering a new perspective on the pieces. The exhibition highlights the importance of technical documentation in the history and conservation of art and how it is used to discover preparatory drawings, changes in composition, and previous restorations.

 

For more information about the exhibition and related educational activities, visit our websites (https://museoarteponce.org/ and https://www.mapr.org) or our social media accounts (@museoarteponce and @museomapr).

 

We thank all the collaborators who made this project possible, especially Prof. Marta Raïch Creus, Dr. Iván Rega Castro, and Dr. Borja Franco Llopis, for their important work capturing and interpreting the technical documentation presented in the exhibition.

 

We also thank Dr. Jorge L. Torres Nazario, Centros Radiológicos de Ponce, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico, Ponce campus. This project was made possible by a grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Additional funds were provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, “American Rescue Plan,” “State and Local Recovery Funds,” through AAFAF, Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSFRF), and the Comisión Especial Conjunta sobre Fondos Legislativos para Impacto Comunitario.