María Josefa Huarte Beaumont or mecenas; benefactora; Maria Josefa Huarte Beaumont (25 May 1927 – 8 February 2015) was a Spanish art collector and philanthropist. She is known for donating her modern art collection (and a building to put it in) to the

University of Navarra The University of Navarra is a private Catholic research university located on the southeast border of Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. It was founded in 1952 by Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, the founder of '' Opus Dei'', as a corporat ...

Life

Beaumont was born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

. Her father was Felix Huarte who was a successful builder. Her mother was Adriana Beaumont Galduroz. She was the third of four children. Beaumont spent time travelling with her husband and she would see and buy modern art that appealed to her. She decided to leave her collection to the University of Navarra in 2008 and she commissioned the architect

Rafael Moneo José Rafael Moneo Vallés (born 9 May 1937) is a Spanish architect. He won the Pritzker Prize for architecture in 1996, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2003, and La Biennale's Golden Lion in 2021. Biography Born in Tudela, Spain, Moneo studi ...

to build a home for it. The collection of 48 pieces of art was by nineteen artists. The focus of the collection is on geometric contemporary abstract art by Spanish artists but there are exceptions to this. Moneo commented on how Beaumont did not interfere with his design but was very supportive of his proposals. Moneo chose an abstract design for the new building to mirror the collection. The building is part of the university but it is intended to be a cultural hub as well for Pamplona.

Death and legacy

Museum Universidad de Navarra Beaumont died in her home city,

, in 2015. In January 2015, the Museum of the University of Navarra was inaugurated by King Felipe VI and houses her donated collection.. This great collections of contemporary art included works by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

and

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

. Her donated collection included not only paintings but also thousands of photographs by leading photographers going back to the nineteenth century.

Private life

She was married to Javier Vidal, they had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont, María Josefa Huarte 1927 births 2015 deaths People from Pamplona Spanish art collectors Women art collectors 20th-century Spanish women 21st-century Spanish women