Some experts from the Germanic National Museum began an investigation about Albrecht Dürer’s production three years ago and that exhibition is the result of their research. It is "the largest and most important exhibition organized in Germany during the last 40 years," according to art critics and those who have already visited it. More than a hundred "most valuable" works painted by the German author compose the exhibition, with loans from 12 countries, including Spain, to which are added the museum's own funds to form a total of 200 pieces.

This is not an exhibition about dates or anniversaries. The Early Dürer aims to answer a series of questions about the German painter. What did he do in his hometown that led him to become the greatest artist of Europe at that time? What were the circumstances and the context?

The exhibition includes an early creative period (until 1505), when he made his second trip to Venice. The oldest painting is dated in 1484. It is a self-portrait from the Albertina, in Vienna. The latest work is The Adoration of the Magi (1504) and belongs to the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence. Among both paintings, curators have included the most remarkable works of his younger years: self-portraits, portraits of relatives and friends, ambitious nature studies, dramatic stories and prints. Albrecht Dürer was an experienced painter but he was also an extraordinary draftsman, printmaker and designer.

Visitors learn in that exhibition how was the social context where the artist grew up and lived, not only through the portraits of his neighbors and colleagues but by an interactive installation. The exhibition offers a new curiosity: the posibility to discover what disturbed Dürer while he painted. With the help of infrared drawings, hidden by layers of color, these works reveal their struggle for the creative process. There are fingerprints or gloves the artist should have used as a brush.

The Early Dürer will be on view until September 2nd. MPR.

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