Fundación José Pons

José Pons’s legacy in Bilbao

Fundación José Pons is a cultural institution established in Bilbao in 2009 to preserve, study, and share the documentary, artistic, and bibliographic legacy of José Pons Arraiza (1934–2007). Its public research archive holds more than 18,000 cataloged items in six collections: studio paintings, graphic works, correspondence, a personal library, audiovisual material, and documents and manuscripts.

History and locations

José Pons wanted the materials he had collected over more than four decades at his Bilbao home to be preserved and publicly accessible. A six-year inventory, cataloging, and digitization effort turned the collection into an organized archive. The foundation opened its premises in Bilbao’s Casco Viejo in 2014, with a reading room and climate-controlled storage. Its current address is Almona del Boquerón 4.

Collections in numbers

• More than 1,800 studio paintings, including oils, acrylics, and mixed-media works dating from 1968 onward.
• More than 3,200 graphic items, including posters, prints, screen prints, and works on paper.
• More than 4,000 digitized and transcribed letters in the correspondence collection, spanning 1965–2014.
• 2,400 annotated volumes in the personal library.
• 320 hours of cataloged audiovisual and sound material.
• 14,200 high-resolution digitized images openly accessible through its website.

Programs and milestones

The foundation maintains a cultural program of exhibitions, seminars, book presentations, and guided tours. Milestones cited in the Spanish profile include opening its documentation center in 2014; launching the Cuadernos del Archivo Pons publishing program with the University of the Basque Country in 2018; and opening a fully digitized public portal in 2022. In 2024 it joined the Basque Archives Network and signed agreements with three contemporary art centers.

Access and services

Researchers, teachers, students, and the general public may consult the archive. The foundation also offers residency programs and editorial collaborations. The reading room lists Tuesday–Saturday hours of 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Inquiries can be sent through the email contact on its website.