The Palace of Liria—home to the Dukes of Alba—houses one of Madrid’s finest private art collections and is the largest private residence in Spain. Known for organising exhibitions that showcase the many extraordinary treasures from its archives and collection, the palace opened its doors to a new kind of experience in 2025.
For the first time, an international contemporary art exhibition has taken place at Liria Palace. Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos has been invited to take over the palace’s many rooms and gardens, installing a vast myriad of contemporary artworks and interventions. These pieces enter into dialogue with Liria’s remarkable collection of portraits, tapestries, furniture, and decorative arts.
The graphic identity was developed through a close exchange between the palace and the artist, drawing on key ideas such as colour, scale, repetition, and contemporary interpretations of the baroque. At its core are three horizontal bands in vivid shades of fuchsia, powder rose, and coral red—colours derived from Vasconcelos’ artworks and the palace’s interiors.
The chosen typeface, PP Writer by Pangram Pangram, evokes the spirit of the 16th-century Renaissance in a contemporary form. It is set in oversized formats with extremely tight leading, creating a dense rhythm that reflects the scale and intensity of Vasconcelos’ installations.
This visual language—bold blocks of colour, compact typography, and repeating image patterns—references the artist’s use of repetition, domestic objects, and ornamentation. It reflects her ongoing exploration of domesticity, femininity, and excess, while capturing both the grandeur of the palace and the bold contemporary energy of her work.
