José Benlliure Museum
I’m not sure if I really know what nooks and crannies are, but I know one when I see it, and I know that I like them.
One such spot away from the madding crowd is the Benlliure Museum, which used to be the home and studio of the Valencian painter José Benlliure Gil (1855-1937) in Calle Blanqueries, 23.
The house where he lived is not especially special in itself, until you go out the back into the garden, an oasis of peace alongside a busy road.
Furthermore, a kind of sadness reigns in the house, haunted as it is by the memory of his son, José Benlliure Ortiz (Peppino), a promising artist himself, who was born in Rome and who died young at the age of 32, and whose work fills the first floor.
At the end of the garden is his studio, where things start to get more interesting, almost as interesting as the dragon, (I think), carved on a plinth at the bottom of the garden.
His work forms a splendid clutter that captures the imagination, as you try to visualise him here moving from canvas to canvas, impregnated with the heady odour of oil paints; smoking a pipe undoubtedly.
The house was built in 1883 and donated along with a great deal of his work by his daughter, María Benlliure Ortiz, in 1957.
The museum is closed on Mondays.
See our article on Benlliure:
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