Laurence Dollimore
MALAGA invested almost €10 million into museums last year, it has been revealed.
The arrival of two prominent institutions – the Centre Pompidou Malaga and the Collection of the Russian Museum St.Petersburg/Malaga – is part of a drive by the council to transform the city into a global centre for the arts.
Mayor Francisco de la Torre has said the two new additions won’t be the last, promising further transformations.
“We have big plans for the city and there’s more coming to the work we’ve already done,” he said.
The Pompidou alone, which houses works such as Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo and Marc Chagall, brought around 220,000 visitors in its first year and cost €7 million.
The Russian Museum will stay for ten years, with an option to extend, and set the council back €2 million.
Situated in the same tobacco factory complex as the Automobile Museum and spanning two floors and about 43,000 square feet, it houses 18th-century to modern-day works by prolific artists who are Russian or who have worked in Russia, such as the 19th-century landscape painter Ivan Shishkin and the 20th-century painter Vladimir Gavrilov.
Virginia Irurita, founder of travel company Made for Spain and Portugal said: “Malaga is where you went for a cheap beach holiday. People couldn’t care less about the city itself, but it’s become the place now where all the Spanish want to come and stay to see the museums.”
Good, but the amount is pathetic. €10 million would not purchase one decent exhibit. The Malaga Pompidou has also been a disappointment so far.
The Russian Museum does not only present Russian art, but within the cold architecture of the building the smell of old KGB days when the very ‘cool’ curators (or agents?) are watching you from behind while you are walking through the exhibition.
Quite authentic feeling!