The Malaspina Expedition

Project intended to recover the memory of the eighteenth century Malaspina expedition, an enlightened landmark in the history of Spain, an experience that anticipated today”€™s dynamics of synergy among the various spheres of knowledge and the global spirit that defines the twentyfirst century.

The story is illustrated by 39 photographs taken toward the end of the nineteeth century, which serve to weave a discourse that runs through Spanish history: the relation between art, science and society as a catalyst for change. In a voyage lasting five years, artists and scientists travelled far along the Atlantic and Pacific, discovering, cataloguing and analysing flora, fauna, seas, people and lands as part of the Adventure of reason that was the quest of the era. What this publication presents is the visual legacy of the expedition, combining scientific and artistic documents and creating a dialogue between them, in the same spirit.

The selection of the materials included in the book “€“ some of which are unpublished “€“ offers a novel view of the expedition.