EDP iluminantes Evaristo Valle
The Museum Evaristo Valle has hosted the presentation of the project “EDP illuminates Evaristo Valle”, an agreement between the Foundation Museum Evaristo Valle and the EDP Foundation, through which the exposition halls of the ancient building of the museum – where the work of Evaristo Valle is shown – are furnished with a new illumination system based on LED technology, substituting the traditional halogen lamps.
This illumination system, already installed in some of the main museums, like the Prado Museum or the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, offers the spectator a clearer and more defined view of the paintings, improving thus its contemplation, while also enabling important improvements in their conservation, as a result of the lack of infrared and ultraviolet rays.
Regarding the efficiency, the LED technology enables an energy saving of 75 % and avoids the emission of a great quantity of CO2 into the atmosphere. Likewise, it reduces the maintenance costs, as these devices have a lifespan of 50 000 hours, as opposed to the 1 000 hours of traditional halogen lamps.
This project is part of the initiatives of the EDP Foundation that aim to improve the environment in which the company develops its activity, supporting, in this case, the Museum Evaristo Valle to continue with its innovation line, always focused on the study, spreading and conservation of the work of Evaristo Valle, one of the maximum representatives of the Asturian and Spanish painting of the first half of the 20th century.
The EDP Foundation, within the field of illumination, occupies an important chapter of its activity in different elements of the historic and cultural patrimony of the Principality of Asturias. Among the illumination projects implemented by the EDP Foundation, it is to highlight the one of the Revillagigedo Palace, the Historic Building of the University of Oviedo, the Campoamor Theater, the Tower of Refrigeration of Valnalón – Museum of Iron and Steel Industry – or the Basilic of the Covadonga Cave.
About the Museum Evaristo Valle
The Museum Evaristo Valle, considered to be one of the most important monographic museums in Europe, is the result of the affection and generosity of María Rodríguez del Valle – niece of the painter – who, since his dead in 1951, kept the oil paintings, drawings, personal objects and documents of the artist, that are today integrated in the museum; enclosed in the ancient small palace of the 19th century, remodeled in 1942 and surrounded by magnificent Historic Gardens, that once were residency of the married Rodríguez couple, and are today in process of being declared Goods of Cultural Interest, they collect the most important collection of the work of Evaristo Valle (Gijón, 1873-1951), fundamental figure in the Asturian and Spanish painting during the first half of the 20th centrum as well as a reconstruction of his studio and collection of shells, gathered by his father in the second half of the 19th century from the seas of Indochina and the Caribbean.
Furthermore, the museum harbors in its building temporary expositions, exhibitions in which it has been possible to contemplate from works of Goya, El Greco, Rubens, etc., to the great contemporary international artists like Picasso or Jasper Johns, taking on the intensity and assiduity of contemporary Asturian artists, also present in the gardens, where more than half a hundred sculptures are exhibited permanently, as well as an important bonsai collection.
About the EDP Foundation
The EDP Foundation aims to reinforce the commitment of the Group EDP with society in the geographical areas where it develops its activity. Specifically, its actuation areas are those involving social, cultural, environmental and educative issues, as well as the ones related to investigation, that aim for a common sustainable development.