Zurbarán at the Louvre
Until 25 January 2027 at the Musée du Louvre, Paris. A rare chance to see the painter of Spain’s monasteries and its quietest still lifes at full strength.
Francisco de Zurbarán painted silence. His monks kneel in rooms with nothing in them, his saints stand alone against the dark, and his still lifes set a few pieces of fruit on a ledge as if on an altar. The Louvre's exhibition, organised with the National Gallery in London and the Art Institute of Chicago, gathers the best of him in Paris until 25 January 2027.
What the show is
The exhibition, titled simply Zurbarán, runs from 7 October 2026 to 25 January 2027 in the Hall Napoléon. The Louvre is clear that it is not an exhaustive survey. It is a selection of the artist's finest paintings, set in their historical and cultural context, and arranged in seven parts that move both chronologically and by theme.
It covers the large paintings Zurbarán made for the monasteries of Andalusia, the work that made his name, as well as his portraits and still lifes. It pays special attention to his son, Juan de Zurbarán, a still-life painter who died young, and it ends by showing how Zurbarán's way of painting later caught the eye of Manet, Picasso and Juan Gris.
Works to look for
The Louvre has chosen Saint Casilda, the painting shown above, to stand for the exhibition. It belongs to the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and was painted around 1635. Casilda was a Muslim princess of Toledo who, according to legend, secretly carried bread to Christian prisoners; when she was caught, the bread in her skirt turned into roses. Zurbarán paints her like a lady at court, in heavy, glittering silk, and the roses are almost an afterthought. The real subject is the fabric, and the way light falls on it.
In the monastic paintings, look for the white habits of the friars. Zurbarán could paint white cloth in dozens of tones, cool and warm, and give it the weight of carved stone. In the still lifes, by father and son, look at how each object is set apart in its own pool of light, with space around it.
Why it matters
Zurbarán was born in 1598 in Fuente de Cantos, a small town in Extremadura, and trained in Seville, the rich port city that became his home for most of his career. Religious orders there commissioned whole cycles of paintings from him for their cloisters, sacristies and altars. Late in life he moved to Madrid, where he died in 1664, by then overshadowed by younger painters such as Murillo.
He was one of the great painters of Spain's Golden Age, a contemporary of Velázquez, yet he is much less often seen in depth outside Spain. His paintings were made for churches and monasteries, many have stayed in Spain, and his large altarpieces are difficult to move. An exhibition that brings so many of them together, with the resources of three major museums behind it, is unusual.
It also shows why modern painters admired him. His simplified shapes, strong light and quiet, stripped-back compositions can look surprisingly modern. Seeing his work beside later artists who learned from him makes that link clear.
Plan your visit
The exhibition is in the Hall Napoléon of the Musée du Louvre, Paris, from 7 October 2026 to 25 January 2027. The Louvre lists full-price tickets at €22 for visitors from the European Economic Area and €32 for other visitors, with free admission for some groups, and a single ticket also includes the concurrent exhibition Sculpting Colour. The museum suggests allowing about an hour and a quarter.
Book through the Louvre's official ticketing site, and download the free exhibition app before you go; bring headphones for the audio. Check opening hours, booking rules and prices on the Louvre's Zurbarán page before you travel.
