The 'El retablo de maese Pedro' ()Maese Pedro Altarpiece) has become an iconic reference point for Spanish music and culture, forcing the viewer to reconsider basic categories in the world of art, such as the representation of national identity, the dichotomy between tradition and modernity, the coexistence of the cultured and the popular, or the thin line that exists between fantasy and reality.
The exhibition, curated by Elena Torres Clemente and designed by IK Arquitectos, commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the premiere of the work of the Cádiz-born composer Manuel de Falla and is divided into seven sections, a number loaded with symbology for the composer. Through it, the early fascination of the Falla child with puppets is shown, the indelible mark that Cervantes and Don Quixote left on the musician's career, the long creative process of the work, the premiere in the aristocratic salon of the Princess of Polignac , and the subsequent projection of the composition, capable of inspiring very diverse musicians and plastic artists on the international scene. After all, the Maese Pedro Altarpiece has its roots in tradition but, at the same time, captures the most subtle echoes of the present.
Scientific curator: Elena Torres Clemente
Design: Ignacio Loras and María José Bel (IK-Arquitectos)
Production: Manuel de Falla Archive, Casa de los Tiros Museum and Madrid Student Residence, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Sports INAEM, the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Junta de Andalucía, Acción Cultural Española ( AC/E) and Mapfre.