ZACARÍAS GONZÁLEZ HOUSE MUSEUM

Zacarías González Domínguez was born in Salamanca on February 11, 1923, into a modest family. From a very young age, he showed a natural inclination towards art, starting to draw for La Gaceta Regional when he was barely thirteen years old. This early vocation led him to study at the School of Arts and Crafts in Salamanca, where he trained between 1942 and 1948, and later expanded his studies at the Fine Arts Schools of San Fernando and Santa Isabel de Hungría in Seville.

Zacarías González was one of the great Spanish painters of the 20th century. His work is preserved in the Casa Museo de Salamanca thanks to his family's donation to the Caja Duero Foundation. He held numerous exhibitions both in Spanish cities (Madrid, Valladolid, Valencia, Murcia...) and beyond our borders (Paris, Havana, and different cities in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, or Japan). However, from the 1960s onwards, the painter gradually decided to withdraw from artistic circles and dedicate himself to teaching at San Eloy and working in his studio.

Zacarías González was a man of vast culture, passionate about reading, jazz, and cinema, influences that are reflected in the titles and themes of his works. His great imagination led him to invent a family, the Panatakis, and create a narrative around them, central to some of his paintings. These allow us to witness the Panatakis' honeymoon, how they have a child, or how the woman becomes a widow. Another of the Salmantine artist's most notable paintings is 'The New Orleans Suite,' which combines two of his passions: cinema and music. In addition to paintings and drawings, Zacarías González also created sculptures and handwritten books, establishing himself as a multifaceted artist.

He also excelled as a teacher, deeply valuing mutual learning with his students. Although he started drawing as a child, his dedication to painting began in 1947 during his military service in Navarra, where the light and color of the environment shaped his style.

Zacarías González's work has been studied in the thesis by Doctor Díez Moreno, which defines the three major periods into which his work is divided. A first figurative stage, in which he studied and learned from artists like Picasso, Poussin, or Cézanne; a second, abstract stage, especially noted for its material informalism, where compositions with different materials and collages were very important; and a third figurative stage, more intimate and melancholic, in which he developed his own language, far from market and critical pressures. In this last phase, his works display a prodigious technique, a harmonious composition, and refined chromatism, with everyday objects and human figures that convey introspection and silence.

The tour of the Zacarías González House Museum is divided into three floors:

Ground Floor: the tour begins in the old garage of the house where works from his First Figuration period (1940-1958/60) are exhibited. It continues through Exhibition Room I, where the painter formerly held exhibitions for collectors, ending in the Fireplace Room.

First Floor: it preserves the artist's bedroom in its original state, Exhibition Rooms II and III, dedicated to his abstract period (1958/60-1965/67), and the Living Room, also preserved in its original state.

Second Floor: you can visit Exhibition Room IV, with works from the Second Figuration period (1965/67-2003), the Reading Room, the Study Room, in its original state, and the Painting Studio, where the author works and where workshop tools can be observed.

A significant part of artist Zacarías González's life took place in this house. Inside, the various rooms of the house are preserved practically as they were in his time, allowing visitors to delve into his daily environment. Additionally, some of his most prominent works are exhibited, organized across three floors, each dedicated to one of his artistic stages, thus offering a complete journey through the evolution of his creative career.

GROUND FLOOR: • Entrance Hall: the tour begins in the old garage of the house where works from his First Figuration period (1940-1958/60) are exhibited. The exhibition starts with one of his early works: The Oil Lamp Still Life.

• Exhibition Room I:, where the painter formerly held exhibitions for collectors. Works from the First and Second Figuration are exhibited.

• Fireplace Room: preserved in its original state with the works the artist had exhibited here: Laud, Joya, Portrait of Mrs. Panatakis, The Beauty with the Fan, The Cans, etc.

• Staircase: most of the works hung here are small format and correspond to the Second Figuration period. Prince Baltasar Carlos, copy of Velázquez.

FIRST FLOOR: • Artist's Bedroom: preserved in its original state: On one of the walls, you can see the portrait he made of his father in 1948.

• Exhibition Rooms II and III: dedicated to his abstract period (1958/60-1965/67).

• Living Room: also preserved in its original state. The major stages of the artist are present in the exhibited works, with significant pieces such as Portrait of a Girl, Shipyards, Figure in Red, Mrs. Panatakis and her Son, etc.

SECOND FLOOR: • Exhibition Room IV: with works from the Second Figuration (1965/67-2003).

• Reading Room: highlights the magnificent self-portrait the artist created in 1957.

• Study Room: preserved in its original configuration.

• Painting Studio: where the author works and where workshop tools can be observed. On the easel is the last painting he was working on before leaving for Alicante, awaiting the author's return after the summer. But it was not to be; this small painting thus concludes 60 years of a fertile pictorial life, contributing a coherent, sincere, and enormously high-quality body of work to 20th-century Spanish painting.