Beautiful and Cursed

Vampires are ambivalent beings. They are frightening, but they have an endearing point. They're souls in pain, but more than one would trade places with them. They are characterized as ruthless beasts, but they have many weaknesses. The representation of power, but also of immortal rebellion. Dead and undead. Terrifying and seductive at the same time.

What is it about vampires that surrounds them in such a fascinating aura? This is the question that the exhibition 'Vampires. The evolution of the myth', a project by the "la Caixa" Banking Foundation. The exhibition, in which the representation of vampires in the cinema occupies a prominent place, will be on display at the CaixaForum Madrid exhibition centre until 7 June. Afterwards, it will leave for Barcelona.

This monographic exhibition on vampires, which comes from Paris, is the latest result of the alliance between the "la Caixa" Foundation and the Cinémathèque Française. Both institutions had already collaborated on other projects, such as 'George Méliès and the Cinema of 1900' and the 'Art and Cinema' series. Precisely, most of the pieces come from the Cinémathèque Française collection, but there are also works on loan from up to thirty museums. Props, projections, works by established authors such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Nikki de Saint-Phalle... All the items line up to make up an exhibition on vampires with very few precedents in the Spanish museum scene.

The presentation ceremony was presided over by Isabel Fuentes, director of CaixaForum Madrid, and by Elisa Durán, deputy director general of the Foundation. Together with them, on behalf of the Cinémathèque Française, Mathieu Orléan, curator of the exhibition with Florence Tissot, participated.

Fuentes and Durán, who have described the exhibition as "singular" and "attractive", have highlighted that the project seeks to attract diverse and unusual audiences, those who are not too usual in other artistic exhibitions. However, the ultimate aim is the same as in any exhibition: "to captivate and motivate", in the words of Durán.

They have also presented the set of activities surrounding the exhibition itself: from guided tours with a vampire menu at the end -bloody mary included- to a series of films and conferences, as well as workshops dedicated to young people. Apart from all the above, the crown jewel is, without doubt, a joint initiative with the Red Cross that seeks to promote blood donation.

To present the content of the exhibition, curator Orléan used a quote from Friedrich Murnau's 'Nosferatu' that appears right at the beginning of the film: "He crossed the bridge and the ghosts came to him". Indeed, as he enters, the visitor is immersed in a gloomy atmosphere, a kind of diabolical circle where sinister faces appear, such as those of Countess Isabel Báthory, who used to bathe in the blood of young girls, or Vlad Tepes Draculea, on whom Bram Stoker based his famous character.

The first room explores the origins of the vampire in 19th century literature, a character who is heir to the romantic trend and was revitalised in Stoker's 'Dracula', but also in the lesser-known 'Carmilla' by William Polidori and Sheridan Le Fanu. In the background, a map of medieval Europe, the origin of the vampire myth, shows the places in Eastern Europe where the legend surrounding these creatures was founded.

From the origins in literature to the origins in cinema. In a way, the seventh art and vampires are related: "Murnau was the first to introduce the notion that light killed vampires; just like the cinema, which needs darkness," said Orléan. Several theatres pay tribute to classic films, such as 'Nosferatu' -both the original version by the German expressionist pioneer and the later one by Werner Herzog- or the first version of 'Dracula' by Tod Browning. 

The protagonist of the latter, Bela Lugosi, has, as could not be otherwise, a reserved room; a paradigmatic interpreter of horror cinema who lived between fantasy and reality. As Orléan recalled, "he was vampirized by his own character", to the point that, it is said, he internalized some of Dracula's own habits. 

Nearby lies another myth of the cinema, a James Dean who observes visitors as he is photographed posing inside a coffin; a premonitory scene of what would be his early death. Costumes designed for films like 'Interview with the Vampire' (Neil Jordan) or 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' (Francis Ford Coppola) are waiting next door behind glass cabinets. Winona Ryder's elegant red dress and the dark suit worn by Gary Oldman, both made by the Oscar-winning Eiko Ishioka, are two of the jewels in this exhibition. 

Although vampires are primarily known for their terrifying nature, this is not the only version of these night creatures on offer. Vampirism has a very important political side. An adjacent room is adorned with portraits of Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon or George W. Bush, among others, reflected as vampires. In any case, the figure of the vampire turned into a mass politician retains much of its pejorative charge.

This is a perspective that is very different from that offered by another aspect of vampires: their sensuality. A canvas by the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen shows these characters in another of their facets, anticipating the voracious audiovisual industry by almost a century. After all, vampires are also the expression of the most basic drives; a dimension that, over the last few decades, television has insisted on accentuating.

In fact, the exhibition closes with a section devoted to vampires in pop culture. The comics, books and film posters on display paradoxically show the survival capacity of these creatures, whose most terrifying side has been replaced by their romantic dimension, as in 'Twilight', by their adaptation to the 'mainstream', as in the successful series 'True Blood', or by their incarnation of everything that is a minority in each of the spectators, as in 'Only lovers survive', by cult director Jim Jarmusch.

The tour closes within the so-called 'Club Vamp', dedicated to family activities. There, the candlesticks barely add a shimmering, flickering glow to the atmosphere. Among the candles, there is a mirror, but be careful: if you do not appear reflected in it, it is not because there is little light...