Controversial Gelman Collection to Inaugurate Spain’s New Faro Santander in September
Banco Santander Foundation set September 8, 2026, as the opening date for its new art center, Faro Santander, and announced three inaugural exhibitions, including a Leonora Carrington solo and “Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection.” The Gelman Santander show draws from the controversial Gelman Collection after the foundation revealed in January 2026 that it owned 160 of the roughly 300 works assembled by Jacques and Natasha Gelman between 1941 and 1998. The collection includes major Mexican modern works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and many pieces are classified as “artistic monuments” under Mexican law, limiting permanent export. More than 200 Mexican artists and art professionals signed an open letter criticizing the works’ travel to Spain, while the foundation said it does not plan permanent removal and organized a related exhibition at Mexico City’s Museo de Arte Moderno in February, curated by MAM director Marisol Argüelles. The Faro Santander presentation, also curated by Argüelles, is scheduled to run until January 10, 2027, and will include works such as Kahlo’s “Diego en mi pensamiento (Diego on My Mind)” and “Autorretrato con monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys),” and Rivera’s “Portrait of Natasha Gelman” and “Vendedora de alcatraces (Woman Selling Calla Lilies).”
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This story was covered in Markets Ablaze, Museums Under Fire