FUNDACION EDPInitiatives

Artium is, as a museum and cultural activities centre, a benchmark for its dissemination and heritage work in the area of contemporary creation, and EDP is an active member of its Board.

Opened on 26 April 2002, it has hosted since then an ambitious programme of thesis and individual exhibitions, with an outstanding presence of internationally renowned artists, along with an intensive agenda of cultural activities linked to contemporary culture, films, music, lectures, courses, seminars, dramatic arts, to education and to the dissemination of contemporary art.

The history of Artium, however, dates back to the last quarter of the last century. In the mid 1970s, Álava Provincial Council took the first steps to set up what is today the Artium Collection. At a time when public collecting in Spain was only slightly more than an eccentricity, the Álava provincial institution began to acquire works by some of the most important artists of the history of both Spanish and Basque art. Miró, Picasso, Tapies, Canogar, Gordillo, Saura, Palazuelo, Gordillo, Millares, Asins, Zumeta, Ameztoy, Chillida and Basterretxea.