Untitled

10 December 2024 - 27 April 2025

This work was originally a mural painting from the Great Hall of the now defunct Casino Kursaal in San Sebastián. The four corners of the hall were decorated with ovals painted by Néstor Martín-Fernández de la Torre.

Néstor Martín, an outstanding artist from the Canary Islands, was an outstanding artist in his time. Forming part of the European symbolist and modernist currents, his paintings break with academicist styles, developing a new, much freer art.

In view of the imminent demolition of the casino building in 1972, part of its heritage was saved for preservation, and San Telmo Museum has recently acquired this piece.

It is a large, symbolist work in which two figures of great monumentality emerge on a vertical axis against a gilt background imitating a mosaic. The two bodies are somewhat androgynous, defying the morality of their time. They intertwine with each other in a highly sensual and delicate sort of dance.

The elongated figures are slightly out of proportion, probably because the artist had the correct perspective in mind for proper viewing in its original location, where it was placed at a great height.