Organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in collaboration with the Irving Penn Foundation and curated by Jeff L. Rosenheim, this was the most comprehensive retrospective of this master of photography ever shown in Spain.

Irving Penn: Centennial, created in 2017 for the centenary of the artist’s birth, celebrates his incomparable career in all its glory, from his beginnings at the end of the 1930s to the start of the 21st century. Comprising over 160 photographs and other unique pieces, such as the backdrop he used in his studio, the exhibition took in all the facets of Penn’s rich output: fashion photographs; exquisite nudes and floral compositions; the still lifes he was devoted to throughout his life; many portraits of the personalities that brought him worldwide recognition; and his photographic series of ordinary people taken in different corners of the world.