Mexican art world protests over plan to send Frida Kahlo masterpieces to Spain | Mexico
One of the world’s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, will be exported to Spain under a deal. Agreement with Banco SantanderIt sparked outrage among Mexico’s cultural community.
Nearly 400 cultural professionals signed an open letter We call on the Mexican government to provide greater clarity on what the agreement means for masterpieces, especially works by Kahlo, which the Mexican state has declared an “artistic monument.”
“This is a very serious problem,” said historian Francisco Berzunza, one of eight people who published the open letter. “HE [Kahlo] “He is the most important artist in our country’s history, and it is easier to see his work outside of Mexico than in Mexico.”
The sequence focuses on a collection of 160 works from the Gelman collection, which has been rebranded as the Gelman Santander collection. Paintings, sketches and photographs originally owned by collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman, purchased In 2023 by the Mexican Zambrano family.
In addition to Kahlo and Rivera, the collection includes works by Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, María Izquierdo and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and a selection of Mexican photographs.
As part of the Santander agreement, the collection, which was exhibited in Mexico for the first time in nearly 20 years, will return to Spain this summer, where it will become the cornerstone of the bank’s new cultural center, Faro Santander.
Santander, which announced the deal in January, said it would be “responsible for the preservation, research and exhibition” of the collection. However, the uncertainty in the announcement, which did not specify how long the studies would remain in Spain, raised concerns.
Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, director of Faro Santander, turned anxiety into anger. he told El País He said the legislation governing the works was “flexible” and that the collection would have a “permanent presence” in the new cultural centre.
Members of Mexico’s cultural community fear the deal means the artifacts may never return to Mexico and say the law is clear when it comes to these national treasures.
Curator Gabriela Camida, one of the first signatories of the letter, said: “Current legislation is very protective of these works, especially those designated as national art monuments. She considers them to have an important value for Mexican identity and Mexican art history.”
The dispute specifically concerns Kahlo’s works, which received “artistic monument” status in 1984: The presidential decree clearly states that her works can only leave Mexico temporarily, and that the country’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Letters (Inbal) is responsible for the “repatriation” of works in private collections abroad.
Artists, curators and others in Mexico’s cultural scene say Inbal, who owns only four of Kahlo’s nearly 150 works, has done just the opposite with the Santander deal.
Berzunza said, “This decree was specifically aimed at locking down private collections. It was to ensure that they do not leave the country and disperse. That is why we defend it so strongly.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in response to the unrest in question: “Our desire [the collection] Staying in Mexico.”
Minister of Culture Claudia Curiel de Icaza in question: “The collection is made in Mexico; it has not been sold, it is only on its way temporarily.” He said the artworks will return to Mexico in 2028.
Santander published a statement He emphasized that the agreement “under no circumstances constitutes the acquisition of the collection or its permanent removal from Mexico” and that the works “will return to Mexico at the end of the temporary export period.”
But cultural figures in Mexico are still armed. They say the agreement signed between Inbal and Santander is vague and heavily favors the Spanish bank.
The contract between the two agencies, seen by the Guardian, states that although the exports will be “temporary”, Faro Santander will be responsible for collection “at any point” between June 2026 and 30 September 2030; this period is “a period which may be extended by mutual agreement through the extension of the existing contract”.
Berzunza said: “If the works had not been returned, a significant part of this artist’s work and history would have been lost. After all, she is the most important Mexican female artist in history. These pieces are essential to telling her story and fundamental to our understanding of our identity as Mexicans.”
