La Casa di Ortega, the museum of applied arts of Matera

The Spanish painter and sculptor José Ortega lived in Matera, in a Lombard palace in the Sasso Barisano, during his anti-Franco exile, between 1973 and 1976.

Today, in a Lombard palace in Sasso Barisano is located an applied arts museum called "La Casa di Ortega”. The museum traces life and offers works created by the artist during his stay in Matera.

The museum exhibits 20 polychrome papier-mâché bas-reliefs that Ortega created in 1975.

Papier-mâché, obtained from an amalgam of paper and glue, is a technique that the Spaniard learned from the masters of Matera.

The ancient charm of the interior of the building is contrasted, in an original way, by the social realism of Ortega's pictorial and sculptural creations.

The “Casa di Ortega” preserves the original domestic environments, that have been given their original charm after the restoration, such as the kitchen.

Each room, including the bathroom, is embellished with tiles by Peppino Mitarotonda, artist and decorator from Matera, with whom the Spanish painter forged a strong bond of friendship.

There are works of important dimensions, such as the majolicas that cover some of the vaults of the house. They testify - as Ortega was the first to understand - the profound link existing in Matera between art and craftsmanship.

On the majolica, episodes linked to the history of Matera are reproduced in the form of a figurative tale.