Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Santander 1939

Juan Navarro Baldeweg is one of the most outstanding figures of art and architecture in Spain. In the 1970s he began his career in the field of visual arts with exhibitions at the Fernando Fe, Edurne and Buadés galleries. After studying at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1959-1960) and at the School of Architecture in Madrid (1969), Navarro Baldeweg finished his education at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts, USA, 1974) thanks to a grant from the Juan March Foundation. In 1977, he was appointed to the Projects Chair at the School of Architecture.

His work is linked to the conceptual practices that emerged from projects such as the Computation Centre in Madrid and such legendary events as the 1972 Pamplona Encounters. In the 1980s he shifted to studying forms of pictorial expression, and has continued this focus in his latest works. ‘I have always painted and I am first and foremost a painter […] Painting is a real need, producing works in all the physical fields of manipulation,” he stressed in an interview in which he also referred to his iconic Light and Metal installation, exhibited at the Vinçon Gallery in Barcelona in 1976. His words show the ability and potential that he attributes to painting as a tool for understanding the world.

Navarro Baldeweg’s many prizes and awards include the National Architecture Prize (2014); the Italian National Architecture Prize - IN/ARCH and ANCE from the Hertziana Library in Rome (2014); the Professional Career Award at the VIII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urban Design (2012); the Gold Medal of the Council of Spanish Architects (2008); the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2007); and the National Award for Plastic Arts (1990). He has also been made a member of such prestigious institutions as the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (1997); the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (2003); and is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (2001).

His work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Marlborough Gallery in Madrid (2016) and in New York (2011); the ICO Museum (Madrid, 2014); the Alzuza Museum (Navarre, 2011); the Max-Planck Gesellschaft (Munich, 2008); the Chapel of the Palace of Charles V at  the Alhambra (Granada, 2007). His architectural works include the Castilla y León Exhibition and Conference Centre (1992), the Altamira National Museum and Research Centre (2001) and the Hertziana Library in Rome (2013).

Beatriz Herráez