Installation view, Álvaro Urbano: Tea and Dry Biscuits. An Anniversary Exhibition, George Kolbe Museum, Berlin, 2025. Photo: Enric Duch.
In Georg Kolbe’s former studio, oranges lie on the floor, many of them rotten. Álvaro Urbano’s work Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain) refers to the Impressionist piece of the same name by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). It was first performed at the Madrid Opera in 1916. Due to Francisco Franco’s fascist rule and fear of war, the composer emigrated to Argentina in 1939. A year earlier, in 1938, Georg Kolbe had traveled to Spain to create a portrait of Franco. Casts of this portrait were presented to Franco and Adolf Hitler as gifts. The portrait was not exhibited in the museum in 1950. However, it is in the museum’s collection.
Installation view, Álvaro Urbano: Tea and Dry Biscuits. An Anniversary Exhibition, George Kolbe Museum, Berlin, 2025. Photo: Enric Duch.
Installation view, Álvaro Urbano: Tea and Dry Biscuits. An Anniversary Exhibition, George Kolbe Museum, Berlin, 2025. Photo: Enric Duch.
Installation view, Álvaro Urbano: Tea and Dry Biscuits. An Anniversary Exhibition, George Kolbe Museum, Berlin, 2025. Photo: Enric Duch.
Installation view, Álvaro Urbano: Tea and Dry Biscuits. An Anniversary Exhibition, George Kolbe Museum, Berlin, 2025. Photo: Enric Duch.
