Austin is about to get a grand tour of Europe without anyone boarding a plane. On November 15, 2026, the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin opens Spirit & Splendor: El Greco, Velázquez, and the Hispanic World, a sweeping exhibition that traces how El Greco and Velázquez shaped painting across Spain’s far-flung world between 1500 and 1800.
The show gathers devotional paintings, portraits and still lifes by Spanish masters and by artists working in Mexico, Peru, the Philippines and beyond, exploring how images of saints and sovereigns crossed oceans and took on new life in new lands. A rare highlight is El Greco’s Lady in a Fur Wrap, on loan from Glasgow, shown in the United States for only the second time. Organized with the Hispanic Society Museum & Library and the Glasgow Life Museums, the exhibition runs through February 15, 2027 — but members can preview it before anyone else.
The Blanton has planned a joyful opening weekend around it. Members are invited to a preview on Saturday, November 14, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Sunday, November 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the whole community is welcome at a Member & Community Celebration in the Moody Patio, the museum’s shady gathering space framed by its famous petal-shaped shade canopy. Expect art, music and good company in the heart of the UT campus.
And remember: admission to the Blanton is free every Tuesday, so there has never been a better moment to make European masterpieces part of an Austin afternoon. Find the museum at 200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., right across from the Texas Capitol.
Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
