The creation of the Photography Collection of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

This article is based on the conclusions of the doctoral thesis The Collection of Photography of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (1914-2014): Estady, Cataloguing and Analysis 2. Beyond the study of the photographic collections that the Museum keeps, the research raises adjacent issues that allude to the problematic of the conservation of the photographic heritage, as well as the difficulties that the medium had in its introduction in the institutions, especially as regards to the museums. With this, it is outlined with context in which to locate the paper that the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao in its main stage of conformation of the Photography Collection, from 1980 to 1997. On the other hand, it is sought to give to know the funds preserved in the Museum, as a contribution to the cartography of the Spanish photographic heritage and the problems of its lack of definition.