Madrid, SPAIN – On Oct. 2, 2025, at Madrid’s O Lumen Hall, opened Specvlvm Creatvrarvm, 800 years of Focusing on Francis, an exhibition revolving around the different artistic practices that have focused on the Canticle of the Creatures over time.
As part of the Franciscan Centenaries, this exhibition was created with the aim of bringing together charism, evangelization and art. The poem of Francis, which Jorge Luis Borges described as inexhaustible, was brought to life in the presence of many visitors who crowded the exhibition hall, intended as a place of contemplation and fraternity. Joan Miró, Jorge Oteiza, Antonio Oteiza, and Vicente Carducho explored the poem. They read it, absorbed it, thought through it, felt it, and with their different approaches they aimed at promoting, invoking and portraying it. Specvlvm Creatvrarvmarticulated a fraternal encounter between those artists who have been immersed in the words of Francis. The exhibition of works granted by institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum, the Funiber Cultural Foundation, the Venerable Third Order of St. Francis or the Diocese of Malaga, gave the different disciplines opportunity to dialogue and search for the constant impulse behind the rawness and beauty of one of the most important poems in Western literature.
The opening was an expression of respect, sensitivity and praise as Capuchin poet Victor Herrero de Miguel recited the poem in its original version. We also had the presence of Signodanza dancer Rakel Rodríguez, a Franciscan from the Arymux company, who brought us the gesture of gratitude through movement.
The exhibition will remain in Madrid until December 3, and our desire is to extend the invitation to embark on this journey of encounter with Francis and the Canticle through word, work and beauty.
The art exhibition was organized by the Capuchin Friars of Spain, ESEF (Institute of Franciscan Studies) and the Inter-Franciscan Commission of Spain.
