Museo Insular de La Palma adds three new works to its collection

The Museo Insular de La Palma, which belongs to the Cabildo Insular, has added three new works to its collection, according to a press release issued by the institution on 10 July 2026. The museum has received one work donated by graphic artist Will Corvara and two works that will remain on temporary deposit: one by artist Pauline Nijenhuis and another — an oil on canvas by Canarian painter Gregorio Toledo — lent by a private collector.

Miriam Perestelo, the Cabildo Insular de La Palma's councillor for Culture and Cultural Heritage, said that "heritage is not built by institutions alone, but also thanks to the involvement of those who understand that art reaches its true value when it becomes part of collective memory." Perestelo stressed the governing team's commitment to continuing to strengthen the Museo Insular as a cultural landmark for La Palma, building a public collection that is "increasingly rich, diverse and representative."

Museum director Isabel Santos expressed her "deep gratitude for the extraordinary generosity" of Will Corvara in formalising the permanent donation of a photograph from his Botanical collection. "The addition of this work enriches our permanent collection and means that, from today, it becomes part of the heritage the Museum makes available to all citizens," she said. Santos also thanked the owners who had temporarily lent two further works, which she said "will bring exceptional value to our current exhibition and which it is a pleasure to be able to care for during this time."

The new works

The first addition is the donation by graphic artist Will Corvara, who is giving the Museum a work from his Botanical series. According to the press release, the series sees the artist explore nature from a contemporary perspective, transforming plant elements into compositions of aesthetic and poetic force. His work, recognised for its dialogue between photography, design and digital creation, now has a permanent place within the island's artistic heritage.

The second work arrives on a one-year temporary loan. Snellandschap Disco, created in 2020 by Pauline Nijenhuis, combines acrylic and hand embroidery on linen to depict a landscape familiar to anyone living in La Palma: the DISA fuel storage tanks on the coast of Breña Alta. The artist transforms an industrial site into a landscape that, according to the institution's description, invites reflection on the relationship between territory, industry and memory.

The third is an oil on canvas by Canarian painter Gregorio Toledo, on temporary loan from a private collector. Its inclusion will enrich the permanent exhibition dedicated to the artist, extending the journey through his pictorial career and offering the public a new opportunity to explore the work of one of the leading figures in Canarian painting.

Background

The Museo Insular de La Palma is housed in a 16th-century former Franciscan convent in Santa Cruz de La Palma and has operated as a museum since 1986, with sections covering archaeology, ethnography, natural sciences and fine arts. The fine arts gallery displays 16th-century Flemish painting and, above all, works from the 19th and 20th centuries, including pieces by Gregorio Toledo himself.

Toledo's connection with the museum predates this acquisition. In January 2023, the López Mederos family donated two paintings to the Cabildo, one of them by Toledo — the oil Retrato de Felipe Damián López Rodríguez, signed and dated 1930 — which joined the room dedicated to the painter. Born in Villa de Mazo in 1906 and died in Madrid in 1980, Toledo trained at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando on a scholarship from the Cabildo.

In the case of Will Corvara, a photographer and writer born in Madrid in 1983, the Museo Insular had already hosted his solo exhibition Botanical in 2024 — the same series to which the newly donated work belongs.