For years Fernando Maquieira has professionally made photographic reproductions of art collections. Requiring a meticulous process, this task placed him alone with works of art. Rooted in these experiences the photographer decided to begin a new project to study what happens in museums in the absence of visitors. More than 50 institutions granted him permission to enter their galleries at night including the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Tate Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, and, as this photograph demonstrates, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

In an artificial way, museums are the custodians of bodies of work that have been removed from the places for which they were intended. In the dark, changing the usual light of these spaces, Maquieira captures this reality in Guía nocturna de museos [Night Guide of Museums]. With a mysterious gaze that is not lacking in irony, the artist explores the aesthetic joy viewers experience when faced with the works in present day museums. The series of images, which was self-published by Maquieira as a photobook entitled Nocturna (2017) displays great technical and compositional mastery aside from an intense sensitivity rooted in the photographer’s extensive career.