The National Gallery will present the first major monographic exhibition devoted to Francisco de Zurbarán ever held in the United Kingdom, opening 2 May 2026 in the Sainsbury Wing.
Zurbarán (1598–1664) ranks alongside Diego Velázquez and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo as one of the leading painters of Spain’s Golden Age. The exhibition brings together nearly 50 paintings spanning the artist’s career, drawing exceptional loans from institutions including the Museo Nacional del Prado, the Musée du Louvre, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
The artist spent most of his life in Seville, then one of Europe’s wealthiest cities thanks to its trade links with the Americas. He worked primarily for the city’s religious orders, producing monumental altarpieces and devotional cycles, though he also painted for private patrons and briefly for the Spanish king in Madrid.
Highlights include major religious works such as Saint Casilda from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, The Crucified Christ with a Painter from the Prado, and the celebrated Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose from the Norton Simon Foundation—shown for the first time alongside the National Gallery’s own A Cup of Water and a Rose.
The exhibition also features works by Zurbarán’s son Juan (1620–1649), a gifted still-life painter whose small but exceptional body of work continues to be rediscovered.
“Whether they are 10 feet tall or small enough to hold in the hands, his paintings are extraordinarily powerful,” said curator Francesca Whitlum-Cooper. “I hope visitors will be both amazed and moved by this encounter with Zurbarán’s work.”
The exhibition represents the first dedicated presentation of Zurbarán’s paintings at the National Gallery since 1994. It runs until 23 August 2026 before traveling to the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago.
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