The exhibition Gods, Magicians and Wisemen brings together the work of ten artists from ”la Caixa” Foundation Contemporary Art Collection and pieces from their private collections, suggesting a formal and/or conceptual relation between them.

Artists’ collections are particularly valuable because of their capacity to reveal to us aspects linked to the imaginary of the creators, their references, their interests and obsessions, their creative processes and, in short, their own work.

In this exhibition, we will explore art collections of non-European tradition, providing as a counterpoint the search for oneself in the other, as well as the gaze of the other on himself. Thus, if in the case of Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies we introduce the gaze towards the other through oriental art, in the case of Hiroshi Sugimoto we will discover a sample of his collection of ancient Japanese religious objects as a way of looking at the objects of his own tradition. Susana Solano’s collection also embodies the search for the other through her journeys. Moreover, Luis Feito becomes the other. In contrast, Joan Hernández Pijuan shows us the search for himself in the other.

Rosa Amorós’ collection is notable as a gaze shared with her partner, the publisher Gustau Gili; they have both amassed a set of pieces for four hands that almost reaches the universal. Georg Baselitz, however, focuses on a very specific area of East Africa to amass a very valuable personal collection. As in the case of Sugimoto, Miquel Barceló’s gaze also targets tradition, this time European, but without avoiding non-European objects. Manolo Millares’ collection, in its turn, represents the search for his origins in an archaic, isolated and vanished culture, that of the Canary Islands native peoples.

Thus, the comparison between the different collections and the relation between the artwork and each artist’s collection will enable us to enjoy a fascinating experience.