The Louvre has reopened its renovated galleries of Italian and Spanish painting from the 17th and 18th centuries, offering visitors a refreshed way to experience some of the museum’s most important works. After a year-long renovation, the galleries—located on the first floor of the Denon Wing—now feature a redesigned layout, updated lighting, newly painted walls, and improved interpretive materials that bring renewed clarity and depth to the collection.
The reopening marks more than a cosmetic update. It also reflects a major behind-the-scenes effort to reassess, conserve, and, in some cases, restore the paintings themselves. Many works had remained hung high on the walls since the galleries were first installed in 1999, limiting close inspection. During the renovation, each painting was examined, cleaned, and carefully evaluated for conservation needs. Several works benefited from substantial restoration campaigns, while frames and gilded surfaces were also treated by the Louvre’s specialist workshops.
A new configuration of the Porte des Lions now provides faster access to these galleries, creating a more fluid connection between the Grande Galerie and the newly opened Gallery of the Five Continents on the ground floor.
Italian painting: from Rome to Venice
In the Italian painting galleries, visitors can once again encounter works produced in Rome during the later 17th century, alongside paintings from Naples, Genoa, Florence, Milan, and Venice. Three canvases by Salvator Rosa introduce the Neapolitan school and lead into works by artists such as Luca Giordano, while the diversity of regional styles underscores the richness of Italian painting during this period.
The adjoining gallery dedicated to large-scale 18th-century works places Giambattista Piazzetta’s Assumption of the Virgin in dialogue with Giambattista Tiepolo’s Juno Amid the Clouds, acquired by the Louvre in 2020. Monumental canvases by Giovanni Paolo Panini complete the display, evoking the fascination that Rome exerted over artists and travelers across Europe.
Spanish painting: from devotion to modernity
The first phase of the renovation of the Spanish painting galleries has also been completed, with a renewed focus on both conservation and interpretation. In the Murillo Gallery, restored monumental works from the 17th century return to view, including powerful scenes from the life of Saint Bonaventure by Francisco de Herrera the Elder and Francisco de Zurbarán. Their renewed color and scale reassert the dramatic impact these works once had in their original religious settings.
Beyond this space, the gallery devoted to Spanish painting from 1750 to 1850 highlights one of the Louvre’s greatest strengths: its collection of works by Francisco de Goya. Full-length portraits of Spanish aristocrats sit alongside more intimate images of figures close to the artist. The centerpiece remains Goya’s striking portrait of Ferdinand Guillemardet, painted in 1798 during the turbulent years of the French Republic.
For the first time in this gallery, visitors can also encounter Goya’s engraved Disparates, whose unsettling imagery reveals a darker, more experimental side of the artist. These works offer a sharp contrast to his luminous portraits and expand the understanding of his technical and thematic range.
Looking ahead
Not all works have yet returned to the walls. Murillo’s The Angels’ Kitchen, a monumental canvas currently undergoing major restoration, is expected to rejoin the galleries in autumn 2026. Further renovations are also planned: beginning in 2026, adjacent rooms will be refurbished to present Spanish and Portuguese paintings in smaller formats, spanning the 14th to the 19th centuries.
With these renewed galleries, the Louvre offers visitors not only a refreshed visual experience, but also a deeper engagement with the history, materiality, and ongoing care of its collections—reminding audiences that museums are living institutions, constantly revisiting and rethinking the works they preserve.
Credit: Art Daily
