Women completely dominate as a subject in the work of Julio González. This unprecedented selection from the IVAM collection on the subject is a testament to this. His work spans family portraits and portraits of women in modern life, academic and abstract nudes, real and idealised figures, historical and political allegories: all form part of González’s stylistic evolution from full to empty forms, from figuration to abstraction. His sculptures are also permeated with meaning. They reflect the emancipation of contemporary women and their transition from the private to the public sphere, from silence to speech.

This chronological and thematic presentation of the collection underscores the major stages of his evolution, linking life and creation, intimacy and history: his early professional models, portraits of his family, peasant and urban women, depictions of motherhood and women reading, realistic figures and idealized types, and almost abstract standing figures as well as political allegories.

Also noteworthy is his family environment and its influence on his sculpture, connected to the goldsmithing workshop of his aunts and his wife, as well as to the production of his own decorative objects, which in the 1920s and 30s were linked to the adornment of a new female form. Paying homage to the work of Julio González means remembering the three strong women who remained faithful to his memory: his daughter, the abstract artist Roberta González, whose work is still being studied outside the influence of her father, and her generous heirs, Carmen Martínez and Viviane Grimminger, who enriched the IVAM’s holdings with their donations.