Ramón Aras

Ramón de Aras Jáuregui (1881 – 1966) was a Spanish politician who was one of the most important figures in the Basque society in the first quarter of the 20th century. He was a city councilor from 1913 to 1917 and was a patron of several painters of the time, such as Darío de Regoyos. Like so many other Basque fortunes of his time, he dedicated large sums of money to creating a vast and valued art collection, being one of the most noted and important collections in Bilbao. Under his presidency, the club merged with Unión Vizcaino to form Bizcaya, which was specially created to take part in the 1907 Copa del Rey, endured internal problems, and suffered a drought of titles.

In the late 1890s, Aras became a member of an informal group led by Carlos Castellanos, the so-called Bilbao Football Club, the first entity to play football in Bilbao since the disappearance of Club Atleta. Although it was formed in 1896, it was not until 30 November 1900 that the club was officially established in a meeting held in the house of industrialist José Luis de Villabaso (1852–1917) in the Biscayan neighborhood of Algorta. Jáuregui never played a match for the club, official or otherwise.

Due to financial exhaustion and a loss of interest in football, the owners of Bilbao FC agreed at the General Meeting on 29 March 1903 to dissolve the club, and its remaining members and associates were officially absorbed by Athletic Club, including Aras, During his two years at the office of the club, he failed to win a single title, becoming the first president to do so since Luis Márquez, who did not compete in any competition.

Collection Although many of the newly Basque enriched of his time spent their fortunes decorating the interiors of their mansions, the case of Aras was different, as he dedicated large sums of money to creating a vast art collection, which was during a good part of the 20th century one of the most noted collections in Bilbao. He was committed to making his collection accessible to the public in the city, proof of this are the Museum's catalogs during the first three decades of the century, which include ceded or donated works that went from a selection of Flemish tapestries, ivories, and reliquaries to paintings. The magnitude of the original collection was such that simply by comparing that of the museum itself, which opened its doors in 1914, it had 137 works, while he would easily multiply that number several times. A good number of these works are part of the current Bilbao Fine Arts Museum.

Aras also was one of his sponsors as well as a judge in artistic competitions.

During the conflict of the Spanish Civil War and the Bombing of Guernica, the safeguarding of the cultural heritage was made a priority objective, and the collection of Aras was obviously included. A good part of his works were transferred to the Bilbao Museum to avoid their destruction. For fear of the bombings, part of the funds was taken from the institution and transferred to Paris. The lack of control with which it was carried out, added to the vicissitudes of the war itself, caused a good part of the funds that were treasured to be lost. An example of this is seen in images from 1936 and 1937 in which the paintings and frames that were separated from the paintings are stacked in order to facilitate their transfer and therefore damaging their state of conservation.

After the war his weight in the city of Bilbao lost strength as well as the volume of the collection, part lost and another donated to his own people.

Death Aras died in San Sebastián in 1966, at the age of either 84 or 85, without any mention in the press despite having been one of the great men of Basque society.