Chillida Leku Museum

The museum building

The Chillida Leku Museum in Hernani in the Basque Country is dedicated to the memory of the Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida who died in 2002 . It consists of a museum building and a sculpture park of 12 hectares . It had been closed to the public since 2010 but reopened in April 2019.

Chillida became known to a broad public in Germany through his sculpture in front of the Federal Chancellery in Berlin .

history

The museum was built around a former farmhouse from 1543, the caserío Zabalaga ( Zabalaga courtyard ). Chillida and his wife discovered the farm as a ruin, bought it in 1983 and had it restored over years by the Basque architect Joaquín Montero. In 2000, while Chillida was still alive, the property was opened as the Chillida Leku Museum (from Basque leku , “place”, “place” ).

At the end of 2010, the museum had to close to the public due to financial problems as a result of the financial crisis , but the conservation care of the collection and the loan system for external museum exhibitions of the works continued. Visits were only possible by prior arrangement.

After the artist's estate was taken over by the Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth in 2017 , the previously renovated and expanded museum was reopened in April 2019. The museum building was brought up to date with the latest museum technology and the outdoor facilities were partially redesigned in collaboration with the garden architect Piet Oudolf . In addition, the sculpture park was also opened for sculptures by other artists in ancillary areas.

Sculpture park

Around 40 sculptures by Chillida are set up in the sculpture park. They vividly show its stylistic breadth: it involves works from one meter high in the case of the sculpture Éstella V to the 27 tonne and 9 meter high Buscando la luz or the 60 tonne Lotura XXXII. The materials used in the sculptures vary from corten steel and stone , predominantly a pink granite , to concrete .

Museum building

In the museum building there are smaller sculptures by the artist, which are made of different materials such as alabaster , terracotta , plaster and wood. Drawings are also exhibited.