We Were Here: The Untold Story of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, with the presentation of the film by its director, Fred Kudjo Kuwornu

The museum is premiering in Spain We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, a documentary that sheds light on the presence of Africans and Black people in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their representation in masterpieces by some of the most renowned artists of the time, such as Juan de Pareja, the former slave and assistant of the painter Diego Velázquez, who later gained recognition as a painter, and Juan Latino, a 16th-century Spanish scholar and poet of African descent who became one of the first Black people in Spain to gain a university degree. 

Directed by Fred Kudjo Kuwornu and produced by Do The Right Films, the documentary travels through the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and France to offer a rich and complex perspective on a forgotten chapter in European history, while also providing a reassessment of European art and its cultural legacy. It was shown at the Venice Art Biennale in 2024 where it received critical praise for its fresh and thought-provoking exploration of race, art, and identity in the Renaissance. 

After the screening the film’s director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu will take part in a discussion with Juan Ángel López-Manzanares, curator and head of contents at the museum. 

This activity is part of a line of work focused on de-colonialism and one that is encouraging a re-reading the Thyssen collections in order to give greater visibility to different artistic traditions.