Bilbao - Museum of Fine Art

(Local Name: Museo de Bellas Artes) To the right of the western section of the Gran Vía, one street away, is the Parque Doña Casilda de Iturizza (named after a benefactress of the city), at the northeast end of which are the two buildings of the Museum of Art, with a collection of outstanding quality.

The older building displays work by many great European masters. Dutch and Flemish painting of the 15th-17th centuries is well represented, with such masterpieces as Quentin Matsys' ''Money- Changers'' and Dirk Bouts' ''Virgin and Child'' and works by van Dyck and Vos of the 17th Century Flemish school. Spanish painting of the 14th and 15th centuries is represented by Jaime Huguet, Bartolomé Bermejo and Pedro Serra, the 16th and 17th centuries by El Greco (''Annunciation''), Zurbarán (''Virgin and Child with St. John'', his last dated work), Velázquez and Jusepe de Ribera. There are three extraordinary portraits by Goya, the most remarkable of which is that of the poet Fernández de Moratín. Other rooms are devoted to Italian painting of the 16th and 17th centuries, 19th Century French painting (Gauguin's ''Washerwomen of Arles'') and Romanesque and Gothic sculpture. On the first floor are works by Basque artists, including 22 pictures by the landscape painter Darió de Regoyos (the largest collection of his works in any museum). The modern building is devoted mainly to work by contemporary Spanish artists.