History of the museum

This museum opened its doors for the first time on 30 November 1979, gathering the art collections of Aragonese professor and academic José Camón Aznar and his wife María Luisa Alvarez Pinillos.

To accommodate these works, what was then known as the Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja acquired the house of Jerónimo Cósida, one of the most beautiful examples of civil architecture of the Zaragozan Renaissance.

On 26 February 2015, the museum opened its doors to the public again, this time as the Goya Museum–Ibercaja Collection, the result of the Ibercaja Foundation’s heritage conservation efforts. The hallmark of the institution, they are expressed in the desire to disseminate and study the figure of Goya: a universal artist, born in Fuendetodos, a painter and printmaker who still astounds us today with his sense of modernity.

The museum houses 500 works, 39 of them recently added. Prominent are 15 works by Francisco de Goya, in addition to his complete collections of etchings and pieces created by artists who lived before, after and at the same time as Goya.

Following profound reorganisation led by scientific advisor Arturo Ansón Navarro, its new expository discourse makes it the leading centre on Goya’s work in Aragon.

Of these new additions, 28 come from the Ibercaja Collection and 11 from the Real Sociedad Económica Aragonesa de Amigos del País. The new pieces include a drawing by Goya, various works by Francisco Bayeu and important creations by Aragonese artists like José Luzán, Mariano Barbasán, Marcelino de Unceta, Francisco Pradilla, Pablo Gargallo, Grupo Pórtico and the El Paso group, among others.

What the museum offers visitors is enhanced with new technology media: audioguides and tablets that contain detailed explanations of over 300 important artworks in Spanish, English and French.