In 2022, the MOP Foundation in the relatively unknown city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, has been a remarkable host to a high-profile lineup of photographic greats. Its on-site gallery has showcased rare and extensive exhibitions by Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, and Helmut Newton, renowned for their fashion photography. And this week, it's the turn of legendary American photographer Irving Penn, whose first retrospective on Spanish soil will be held from 23 November 2024 to 1 May 2025.

Founder and Foundation's Aim

The MOP Foundation's eponymous founder is Marta Ortega Pérez, a Spanish businesswoman and chair of Inditex, the world's largest fashion retailer. The foundation is based in Arteixo, Galicia, just 20 minutes outside of A Coruña. Its aim is focused on holding world-class exhibitions around three pillars: A Coruña, photography, and fashion.

Irving Penn: Centennial Exhibition

The new exhibition titled "Irving Penn: Centennial" offers a broad survey of the 20th-century photographer's work. His work is a perfect blend of classical and stripped-back elements, meticulous without any sign of effort, and always with an innate sense of grandeur and scale. It recalls the great masters of art, whether it's a blooming flower, a crumpled cigarette packet, distant tribespeople, or a model in a haute couture gown for Vogue.Penn was a master of craft in every sense. From the exacting compositions of light and set design, like one famous series where his subjects were penned into tight corners to observe their interaction with space, to his rigorous printing process. He endlessly experimented, often reprinting the same images in numerous formats, from gelatin-silver prints to platinum-palladium, for which he is best known.

Spanning Decades of Work

This wide-ranging exhibition, organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in collaboration with The Irving Penn Foundation, spans several decades of Penn's work, from the late 1930s to the early 2000s. Penn died in 2009 at the age of 92. Works on display include fashion editorial, portraiture, still-lifes, nudes, and photographs taken during his extensive travels. Ephemera such as one of his cameras, a fabric backdrop used for his portraits, and original copies of Vogue featuring his work are also part of the exhibition.

Celebrating Artistry and Vision

"It's a celebration of artistry, vision, and printmaking," continues Ortega Pérez. "I am thrilled to bring this exhibition to A Coruña for its final act. We do so not only to enrich the cultural life of A Coruña but also as an invitation to all those who admire Penn's work to visit us here at the foundation's unique dockside exhibition space. And to fall in love (again) with a photographer whose work remains as relevant and powerful today as it was decades ago.""Irving Penn Centennial", The MOP Foundation, Muelle de Batería, A Coruña, from 23 November 2024 – 1 May 2025.Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.themopfoundation.org