Louvre hosts major retrospective of painter Francisco de Zurbarán

The Louvre is hosting a major retrospective of the Spanish Golden Age painter Francisco de Zurbarán, opening on 7 October and running until 25 January. This marks the first large-scale international presentation of his work since the late 1980s, organized in collaboration with the National Gallery in London and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Zurbarán, a contemporary of Diego Velázquez, gained prominence through religious commissions for monastic orders, particularly the Dominicans in Seville. His style is characterized by a robust naturalism, severe figures, and a visual economy involving simplified volumes and dark, uncluttered spaces. While his work was originally intended for devotional purposes in 17th-century Catholic Spain, his formal qualities—such as his use of light and texture—later influenced modern artists including Manet, Picasso, and Juan Gris.