Guitar

The guitar is a fretted string instrument, typically with six or twelve strings, that has appeared as a subject in at least 45 works in this collection. Held flat against the player's body, it is played by strumming or plucking with the dominant hand while pressing strings against frets with the opposite hand. The guitar belongs to the chordophone family, producing sound through vibrating strings stretched between fixed points. Its ancestors include the gittern, vihuela, four-course Renaissance guitar, and five-course baroque guitar, all contributing to the development of the modern six-string instrument. The word guitar derives from the Spanish guitarra, which comes via Andalusian Arabic qīthārah from the Latin cithara and ultimately the Ancient Greek kithára.

In art, the guitar carries layered significance. As a portable instrument, it frequently symbolizes leisure, intimacy, and domestic music-making. Its presence in portraits often signals cultural refinement or social status, particularly in aristocratic settings where guitar playing was cultivated. The instrument also evokes particular national and regional identities, especially Spanish musical culture, given the guitar's formal development in Spain from the guitarra latina and guitarra morisca traditions. In genre scenes, the guitar can denote romantic or idle pastimes, while in still life contexts it may serve as a memento mori or reference to the transience of sensory pleasures. The guitar's association with popular and folk traditions, as well as with flamenco, blues, and rock music in later periods, gives it a dual character as both a courtly and a demotic symbol.

The guitar's representation in art has had a lasting afterlife that extends beyond the works in this collection. As the instrument became central to twentieth-century popular music, its visual iconography permeated advertising, album covers, and fine art alike. The classical guitar tradition, consolidated by builders such as Antonio de Torres Jurado around 1884 and performers including Francisco Tárrega, Andrés Segovia, and Julian Bream, preserved its status as a concert instrument. Meanwhile, the electric guitar's role in blues, rock, heavy metal, and punk transformed it into a symbol of rebellion, youth culture, and sonic power. The guitar's portability and accessibility have made it one of the most widely disseminated instruments globally, appearing in African, Latin, Celtic, and Asian musical contexts. Its continued presence in contemporary art and visual culture testifies to the enduring flexibility of its meanings, from refined accomplishment to popular expression.