1989 was a historic year. It put an end to an era defined by the Cold War and confrontations between East and West, between pro-Soviet dictatorships and Western democracies.

The IVAM (Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno) opened in 1989. It was the first modern and contemporary art museum project fostered in Spain following the country’s devolution and the need to acknowledge and promote art and culture.

The project created for the façade of the IVAM by Soledad Sevilla (Valencia, 1944) is based on a persistent memory from her teenage years in Valencia: the geometric tiles that cover the wall of the cloister at The Patriarch's Church (Iglesia del Patriarca).

Beyond the idyllic view of the Mediterranean Sea portrayed in the early 20th century by northern painters who were fascinated by its light, the Mediterranean has encompassed a superimposition, mingling and confrontation of languages, cultures and religions since the beginning of history.

The specific project that Anna Malagrida (Barcelona, 1970) has developed for the IVAM, is the outcome of her interest in the festival of Fallas as a phenomenon of cultural identity, developed through observation of something that is on the fringe of the festival: its ashes.

Ignacio Pinazo (Valencia, 1849 – Godella, 1916) opened up a new field for the treatment of naturalism, light and investigation.

The shift that took place in sculpture in the twentieth century was a response to the new narrative values that appeared in the visual arts and that incorporated advances in science and culture in their proposals.