​Speech by President of the Government at inauguration of exhibition entitled "Joan Miró: Materiality and Metamorphosis"

Porto

Mr President of the Republic, Mr Prime Minister, Mr Speaker of the House, Mr Minister, ladies and gentlemen, Mr President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, public officials, friends,

Millions of foreigners come to Portugal each year to visit a country which is undoubtedly among the most interesting countries in Europe. And I would even dare to say that, from among those travellers who come to Portugal each year, the feeling for Spaniards is special, because the people of Spain, upon arriving in Portugal, not only arrive in a much-admired and much-loved country, but we are also aware of the pleasure of arriving in a sister nation.

I would like to thank you for the hospitality and warmth with which we have been received this afternoon in Porto. We are enjoying a day in which we celebrate our shared culture. And, if it is always good news for any Spaniard to be in Portugal, I can assure you that being in Porto to inaugurate the exhibition of the works of such a distinguished compatriot - a Catalan, Spanish, European and indeed universal artist - as was Joan Miró, is a source of joy and a privilege because, of the many ties that unite us, cultural ties are particularly deep and entrenched.

No-one can deny that economic and trade ties, whilst fundamental and of primary importance, may change over the course of time, but the addition of our creativity leaves a singularly lasting mark, since it brings together the hearts and minds of our two people. So thank you, Mr President, Mr Prime Minister, Madam Director of the Serralves Museum, for this invitation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As you are all aware, our shared past is extraordinarily profound and extensive, to such a degree that in fact, Spain cannot be understood without its relations with Portugal, just as Portugal can't be understood without its relations with Spain. And today I would like to highlight something that is an achievement in its own right and a source of pride that we all share: if we stop to think, there are very few cases in the world, if any, of such a rich, beneficial and exemplary model of neighbourly relations as those shared by Spain and Portugal.

Never before have our economies, our societies, our cultures and our citizens been so connected. Our Iberian co-existence is a powerful example and a great message that we send out to other nations, and our duty as governors, but above all as citizens, is to give productive continuity to this great work and to these great relations. And we will continue along these lines in all areas, from energy interconnections between us and the rest of Europe, to the promotion, like today, of cultural, educational and scientific exchanges. Integration, interconnection and union are signs of our times but, above all, of the interest of our citizens. As I had the opportunity to say a few days ago at the Bratislava Summit, in today's globalised world, separation only leads to irrelevance, or even to impotence.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Neither Portugal nor Spain can complain of being located in an under-privileged part of Europe. Our cultures, our languages, our countryside and our gastronomy are a magnet for people of all origins and constitute just cause for admiration. Fortunately, the talent of the people of Portugal and Spain has been at the same level as those countries that have seen us born.

This talent has been truly noteworthy in the world of culture and we don't need to go back to the times of Camoens or Cervantes. Designed by one of the most influential architects of recent decades, both this building, and the rich collections of the Serralves Museum, speak to us of a culture that both our countries have enjoyed as an exploration into liberty.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Since we are inaugurating this exhibition today entitled "Joan Miró: materiality and metamorphosis", we must also talk about liberty; liberty such as that shown by these works, to rethink and reinterpret the rich Spanish pictorial tradition, to combine the most audacious cutting edge with truly popular roots, to shape art that manages to be fully European based on its deep-rooted Hispanic foundations, from the countryside of deepest Catalonia to the inspiration derived from Majorca.

There is no doubt that this exhibition inaugurated today will be a great success, as it is truly astute to exhibit these 85 works, relatively unknown works by the general public, which have the virtue of tracing Miro's production over the course of six decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s. With the guarantee of the curatorship of such a renowned expert as Robert Lubar, "Joan Miró: materiality and metamorphosis" represents, in itself, one of the greatest cultural events of this year in Europe, but our satisfaction is greater still in knowing that this collection will remain definitively in Porto. As a Spaniard, I am grateful to you: Miró's works could not be in a better place or indeed in better hands.

Ladies and gentlemen,

"Hoje é um bom dia para sublinhar os afetos que ligam a portugeses e espanhois. Um sentimento que tem as suas raízes no pasado, mas que agora se projecta no futuro comum que os dois países partilhamos na Europa".

I am about to conclude my speech but I don't want to end without sharing a reflection with you. As a Galician, I am particularly aware, not only of our proximity to Portugal, but of the intense Atlantic vocation our two countries have shared over the course of our history; a vocation that shaped the modern world and which still constitutes an Iberian legacy of incalculable valuable to modern history.

But we are not only talking about history; we are talking, above all, about the future. In recent times, a Portuguese intellectual, Gabriel Magalhães, spoke about Europe as "the new ocean" shared by Spaniards and the Portuguese, and I am convinced that, in the same way as our culture, our audacity and our initiative enriched Europe, today we can also contemplate and enrich the European project with an Iberian twist. I invite you to do this because I believe, in all honesty, that this falls upon to two societies and two countries, which are far more than just neighbours, partners and allies.

Muito obrigado.