Disasters

1974

Discovers Malpartida de Cáceres

He visits the village of Malpartida de Cáceres in Extremadura and the nearby rocky landscape of Los Barruecos: the bizarre granite boulders remind him of his own concrete sculptures, and he declares the place a “work of art of nature”. In the midst of this “surreal” landscape stands the 18th-century Lavadero de Lanas, and Vostell resolves to create a “meeting place of art, life and nature” here.

1974

First major retrospective in Paris and Berlin

His first major retrospective takes place at ARC 2 in the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; an expanded version is shown at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (other accounts give 1975).

1976

The municipality makes the Lavadero and Barruecos available to him

Vostell finds a supporter in the mayor, who also wins over the initially sceptical municipal council; in 1976 the municipality acquires the Lavadero site and makes it available to the artist together with the neighbouring part of Los Barruecos.

October 1976

The Museo Vostell Malpartida opens

The museum is ceremonially opened together with the sculpture “VOAEX” (“Concrete Journey through Upper Extremadura”), a concrete work set among granite rocks; Vostell also creates other works specially for it, such as the installation “Requiem for the Forgotten”.

1977

Buys the Palacio de Topete mansion

Mercedes and Wolf Vostell buy the poorly preserved 18th-century mansion Palacio de Topete in Malpartida de Cáceres and renovate it little by little; the village becomes a second home beside Berlin.

1978

Meets Salvador Dalí

He meets Salvador Dalí, with whom he will later create a joint project: a sculpture by each in the other's museum.