This exhibition goes beyond Carmen Martín Gaite's work as a novelist to showcase the breadth of her intellectual interests. The exhibition explores the life of a historian, essayist, and translator who left a profound mark on Spanish culture. Through 17 stages of her life, from her childhood in Salamanca to her later years, it places special emphasis on her role as a witness to her generation and her influence on younger authors.
The exhibits on display include family photographs and photographs from her later years; manuscripts and diaries, some illustrated using collage; personal objects, such as her Parker fountain pen and school notebooks; a selection of articles and translations of her work; and audiovisual material with excerpts from interviews and adaptations of her works for film and television.
Carmen Martín Gaite, Ignacio Aldecoa, y la Generación del 50
In 2025, we will celebrate the centenary of the birth of two key figures in 20th-century Spanish literature: Carmen Martín Gaite and Ignacio Aldecoa. Through two joint exhibitions, we explore the life, work, and legacy of these authors, as well as the role of the Generation of '50 to which they belonged.
Both exhibitions seek to highlight the enduring legacy of the Generation of '50, in which a group of writers captured the essence of a Spain undergoing redefinition after the Civil War. This initiative by the BNE, in collaboration with Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), pays tribute to the power of words to transcend historical circumstances and explore the universally human.
