Marking the anniversary of the birth of the painter, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Vigo is opening Laxeiro and the Art of his Time on 23 February. Bringing a close to the year the Galician Royal Academy of Fine Arts has dedicated to José Otero Abeledo, better known as Laxeiro, the exhibition is the perfect ending to a season full of activities conceived to raise awareness of the legacy of an artist whose oeuvre was instrumental in the development and dissemination of twentieth-century Galician art.

This is the first time Laxeiro’s most important works are shown within the wider context of their time, alongside artists who influenced him or in an interesting dialogue with other works that afford new and rewarding readings of the artist’s production. With that purpose in mind, paintings by Xesús Corredoyra, Manuel Colmeiro, Joaquín Torres García, Antonio Saura, Ignacio Zuloaga, José Gutiérrez Solana, Rembrandt and Goya were selected.

Portraiture in general, and self-portraiture in particular, are perhaps the most significant genres in Laxeiro’s practice and in that of many of the other artists whose work is exhibited here alongside his. An excellent example is this self-portrait belonging to the BBVA Collection. With its great expressiveness, it bespeaks the conservative taste of post-war Spain that the artist would soon cast aside.