ORIGEN — The Exhibition

More than 30,000 people visited the retrospective at Casa de Vacas, El Retiro Park.

Origen: The Synthesis of Light and Sea in the Heart of Madrid

In September 2022, the Casa de Vacas Cultural Center, located in Madrid’s El Retiro Park, became a direct window to the marine horizon. Under the title “Origen” (Origin), Javier Torices presented one of the most ambitious exhibitions of his career: a visual and sensory journey that articulated over two decades of artistic exploration focused on water, coastal atmospheres, and the behavior of light.

The concept behind the exhibition arose from the need to return to the primary essence—to pay homage to the liquid element not merely as a figurative motif, but as a conceptual and emotional driving force. Origen brought together a curated selection of large-format works in which marine realism transcends simple photographic reproduction to capture a living moment: the crash of a wave, the backlighting reverberating off the foam, or the quiet tension of the ocean depths.

Among the featured pieces, a monumental triptych stood out as the main compositional and conceptual anchor of the gallery. Executed in acrylic on panel—the result of a rigorous preparation of supports and gesso priming—the work offered an immersive experience where scale played a decisive role in the viewer’s perception.

The overwhelming response from both critics and the public established Origen as a landmark event in the contemporary figurative art scene. The retrospective exhibition drew an extraordinary turnout of visitors and collectors while reaffirming the value of realistic painting as a medium rich in expression, technical mastery, and poetic relevance.

The video captures the atmosphere within the gallery, the dialogue between the artworks and the space, and an introspective look at a body of work fully dedicated to the immensity of the sea.