Julio Romero de Torres.
Between Myth and Tradition

27 April - 8 September 2013
Julio Romero de Torres

Divine Love, Profane Love

1908 Oil and tempera on canvas,
168 x 141 cm
Fundación Cajasur
Divine Love, Profane Love
Julio Romero de Torres

The Consecration of the Couplet

1911-1912 Oil and tempera on canvas,
230 x 290 cm
Colección Junta de Andalucía -
Museo de Bellas Artes de Córdoba
The Consecration of the Couplet
Julio Romero de Torres

Poem of Cordoba

ca. 1913-1915 Oil and tempera on canvas. Various panels. 165 x 528 cm Museo Julio Romero de Torres,
Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Córdoba
Poem of Cordoba
Julio Romero de Torres

The Fortune-telling

1922 Oil on canvas, 106 x 163 cm Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection on gratuitous loan to the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga
The Fortune-telling

Poems and Allegories

Another aspect that is powerfully present in the paintings of Julio Romero de Torres is the use of an underlying allegorical meaning in many of his images – with woman still the recurring subject and symbol of his painting – in order to pay tribute to all the themes that interested him, such as death, love, the world of bullfighting and flamenco, among others.

He cultivated this type of painting throughout his career in works that repeat a scheme inherited from the Italian Renaissance. Built from planes, they consist of a main scene – sometimes narrated before a repertoire of secondary figures – and behind it a background featuring urban spaces of Cordoba.

The figures, mostly female, are often accompanied by elements that are repeated, such as water, packs of cards, fruit and household copperware, always imbued with allegorical meanings. The repetitions found in paintings of this kind – generally large works – hold a particular significance for the painter, who makes them a hallmark.