La Casa de Alba reinforces its commitment to contemporary art through new acquisitions and exhibition projects

The Liria Palace presents, of February 20 to May 31, 2026, the exhibition Nights and days of José María Sicilia, a unique proposal in which contemporary art is integrated with the history and architecture of one of the most emblematic palaces in Madrid.

Organized by the Casa de Alba Foundation, Nights and days offers a broad and sensory view of the work of the Madrilenian artist, combining pieces created specifically for this project with works from different stages of his career. This structure allows the visitor to explore, in a plastic and conceptual way, the various ways in which contemporary painting can relate to a historical space.

José María Sicilia, a leading figure in the Spanish pictorial renovation of the eighties, has designed a series of works and installations that are placed in dialogue with the architecture and history of the Liria Palace. His pieces will be distributed throughout the building's most significant rooms, from the library to the ballroom and the halls of Empress Eugenia de Montijo, among other emblematic spaces.

The exhibition not only presents recent works created specifically for this project, but it also incorporates works from the artist's previous stages. This selection allows us to draw an overview of the evolution of Sicily over the last few decades, revealing the consistency of its formal and conceptual interests. The result is an exhibition that invites us to look at art from multiple perspectives, exploring how light, silence and the fragility of forms are manifested in conversation with a material and architectural heritage steeped in history.

This commitment to contemporary creation is also reflected in the Casa de Alba collection. In this regard, the Foundation has recently acquired the work La Théière (2025) by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, a sculpture originally conceived for the exhibition Flamboyant. Made of iron and permanently installed in the gardens of the Palacio de Liria, the work was part of an exhibition that was consolidated as one of the great cultural landmarks of last season in Madrid and which was also the first major project of the contemporary art program promoted by the Casa de Alba Foundation on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.

In addition, the collection now includes a Portrait of the Dukes of Huéscar performed by Pierre Gonnord, the last commission the artist had before his death in 2024. This piece links with the historical tradition of the Casa de Alba as a patron of noble portraiture, while being fully part of the contemporary universe of Gonnord, internationally recognized as the portrait painter of the light and dark. His work, heir to the painting of masters such as Rembrandt, Velázquez or Goya, explores the dignity of the human condition and conceives the portrait as a space of encounter between the intimacy of the model, that of the author and that of the spectator.

With these initiatives, the family consolidates, through the Casa de Alba Foundation, a vision of patronage that transcends the conservation of the historical legacy to actively invest in contemporary creation, thus projecting the Liria Palace as a meeting place for the art of our time.