The Museum's collaboration with El Corte Inglés department store, Bilbao, began in the year 1990 with the store's annual patronage of the restoration of a work of art from the Museum Collections.

In 2000, this commitment acquired even greater importance when the Zaindu - El Museo Restaura (Zaindu - The Museum Restores) Programme was set up. This Programme deals with the different conservation and restoration treatments applied to all the works of art comprising the Museum's Collections, from paintings and sculptures to works on paper and from the field of applied arts, as well as the Museum's so-called "hidden collection", or those works which, because of their inadequate state of conservation, are not normally on public display. In addition to notably contributing towards the physical conservation of the works of art, the Programme is also an indispensable element for our getting to know them better since it permits researchers and conservation specialists to deal with aspects of the works that are not necessarily detected at first sight, but which are, nevertheless, very important for the correct classification of each piece and for investigating the techniques of the author of the work in even greater depth.

Two decades of fruitful collaboration have resulted in one of the most solid museum Programmes whose results are of interest to both the scientific community and art lovers alike. Each year, those works of art chosen for treatment are firstly presented, then the results of the completed work are exhibited towards the end of the year, usually together with a well-attended presentation in which the entire restoration process is analysed.

One of the most outstanding works selected for treatment in 2010 is the Portrait of Cardinal Francisco Javier Gardoqui, painted in Rome in 1816 by José de Madrazo (Santander, 1781 - Madrid, 1859) one of the most important portraits the painter ever produced. From the Museum's collection of Basque art, To Market, dated around 1913-1915 and one of the cycle of paintings executed by Aurelio Arteta (Bilbao, 1879-Mexico City, 1940) for the Palacio or Mansion House, of Munoa in Cruces (Vizcaya). Two fairly typical works by local artist Andrés Nagel (San Sebastian, 1947) have been selected from the Museum's collection of contemporary art. One is Friends from Bilbao and the other Art gallery owners from Madrid in Benidorm. From the part of its collection not usually on show and known as the hidden collection, the Museum has chosen to restore a plaster relief entitled Motherhood, produced in Paris in 1895 by Nemesio Mogrobejo (Bilbao 1875-Graz, Austria, 1910). The Museum also owns the version of the work done in bronze. Twelve drawings by Joan González (Barcelona, 1868?1908) from the hidden collection, including landscapes and scenes with figures, have likewise been selected for treatment.

The restored works will be presented in December.

List of selected works of art: