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The Mexican art community is expressing its concern for the future of the Gelman collection, one of the most outstanding assortments of Mexican modern art. Since January, the treasure trove has been managed by Spain’s Santander Bank, which plans to make it the crown jewel of its new cultural center, Foro Santander, set to open in Europe later this year. Mexican academics have criticized the lack of transparency in the Mexican government’s arrangement behind the agreement, as they claim it challenges the laws that are said to protect cultural heritage from being exported for good.
The collection features works by heavyweights of 20th-century Mexican art; namely Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, María Izquierdo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Out of the 160 artworks in the collection, there are 18 paintings by Kahlo, including Self-Portrait as a Tehuana (Diego on My Mind), which famously depicts the artist wearing a headdress from Oaxaca. Given that there are about 150 known Kahlo paintings, this represents a sizable part of her oeuvre. More so, the number stands out when compared with the only four Kahlo artworks owned by the Mexican state.
Since the death of its original owners, Jacques and Natasha Gelman, the collection has undergone a series of confusing moves. The works had been bequeathed to American curator Robert Littman, who didn’t have ownership over them, but exhibited some of the artworks in museums around the world until claims about the works’ propriety rights were raised by different parties.
In 2023, the collection was acquired by the powerful Zambrano family, owners of Mexico’s leading building materials company Cemex. The family then reached an agreement earlier this year with the bank, which will oversee “the conservation, research, and exhibition” of the collection.
The alarms were first raised when Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, Faro Santander’s director, said that the collection will have a permanent presence at the new cultural center. However, 30 of the works are listed as national artistic monuments under Mexican law, which prevents their permanent export. While they can be loaned to prestigious art museums for reasonable amounts of time, the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) is responsible for their “repatriation.” For Kahlo’s works, the ones with the most strict protections, they can only be lent for up to two years at a time. And while they can be sold, they have to stay in Mexico.
As such, INBAL and Santander signed a contract, in which the institute gave Faro Santander control over the collection from June 2026 through September 2030, with a possibility to extend the term. While this seemed to confirm that the relocation would only be temporary, Vega Pérez de Arlucea’s comments to Spanish newspaper El País about the legal protections being flexible, as well as the collection’s rebranding to the “Gelman Santander collection,” further raised eyebrows among the Mexican art community.
This prompted over 350 art critics, academics, and experts to sign an open letter asking the government fore more transparency about the ownership, management, and relocation of the collection. “What concerns us most is that the government’s role should have been to create the conditions necessary for such a valuable collection to remain in Mexico. Not only did that not happen, but INBAL decided to sign an agreement that entirely favors a foreign financial institution,” art critic María Minera told El País.
To reassure the public, Santander released a statement saying that the paintings will return to Mexico. Meanwhile, Mexico’s minister of culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said that the works will return in 2028 as required by “customs-related issues,” and that they will be exhibited then, but didn’t provide further details. Still, there are concerns that traveling back and forth between continents could damage the paintings.
For now, the collection is on public display in an exhibition titled Modern Tales at Mexico City’s Museum of Modern Art. Since its opening in February, it has drawn nearly 120,000 visitors, director general of INBAL Alejandra de la Paz told The New York Times, while the museum reports high foot traffic every weekend on social media. While originally slated to close in May, it has now been extended through July as a response to the high demand from local crowds, and as an effort to make it part of the cultural offering for the thousands of visitors set to arrive for the FIFA World Cup this summer.
The Mexican art community is expressing its concern for the future of the Gelman collection, one of the most outstanding assortments of Mexican modern art.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
Since January, the treasure trove has been managed by Spain’s Santander Bank, which plans to make it the crown jewel of its new cultural center, Foro Santander, set to open later this year.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
The collection features works by heavyweights of 20th-century Mexican art; namely Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, María Izquierdo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
For now, the collection is on public display in an exhibition titled Modern Tales at Mexico City’s Museum of Modern Art.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
Sources: Un giro inesperado en su azarosa historia lleva la valiosísima colección Gelman de arte mexicano a España; Opacidad, interés público y propiedad privada: el traslado a España de la formidable colección Gelman sacude México; Mexican art world protests over plan to send Frida Kahlo masterpieces to Spain; Protests in Mexico Challenge Move of Frida Kahlo Trove to Spain; Mexico’s art community calls for greater transparency in management of treasured collection
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