The work Guernica to Gernika, by Ibarrola, will be taken to the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao. The Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the City Council of Bilbao have received EUR 300,000 for the work of art. For the purchase made, Ibarrola has donated two other paintings he has made between 1973 and 1979. The canvas has been purchased from the galerist José de la Mano, at the Arco de Madrid fair.
According to Noticias de Gipuzkoa, Miguel Zugaza, director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, wanted to highlight the notoriety of the work: “In addition to its connection with our museum, the work is very important in the Transition to recognize the political and cultural history of the Basque Country and the State through the gaze of a committed artist such as Agustín Ibarrola.”
The Guernica canvas to Gernika has been kept for more than twenty years in the Gametxo village of Ibarrola.At the end of June, the Galerist and historian José de la Mano took him to the Arco de Madrid exhibition. The mural was claimed by Ibarrola in 1977 to demand the transfer to Euskal Herria of Picasso’s Guernica, which is still preserved at the Reina Sofía Museum.