Madrid,
Coinciding with the celebration of Art Week in Madrid, CentroCentro wanted to pay tribute to those coveted figures without whom there is no market and who sustain the activity of artists and galleries: collectors.
Fifty of them, whose funds are mostly based in the capital, have been invited to show two pieces at the Cibeles Palace: one to which they feel attached and another that they have recently acquired. Among the hundreds of works gathered we will find works in all formats (paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures, videos and installations) and, so that we can learn more about the motivations of those who buy art, each of the participants has provided a text in which they explain them.
The careful reading of these writings can be as enriching as that of the collected creations: for some, collecting means accompanying the artist in his development (Manuel Urbano – Mónica García); for others, it is a form of friendship (Juan Várez, Pilar Citoler). There are those who point out the stimulus to desire that comes with waiting to get hold of a Juan Uslé (Juan Antonio Rodríguez Deorador); who wants to immerse themselves in the artists’ vision of nature (Sofía Barroso); some long to find their own voices (Alejandra González and Alejandro Lázaro); Others let themselves be carried away by the magnetism of the works (Álvaro Villacieros Zunzunegui) or equate collecting and hunting, but yearning for pleasure and not mere collection (Jaime García Crespo).
Jaime Colsa says he buys art to share it and spread the desire to look; Pilar Lladó Arburua tends to treasure compositions that combine strength and tenderness; María del Rosario Algora Wesolowski feels that, like cats, the works – in her case, those of Sonia Navarro – choose the collector, while Catalina D’Anglade is interested in authenticity.
Those responsible for TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary wish to contribute with their funds to social transformation and the preservation of the environment; Irene Rodríguez and José Antonio Llorente aim to promote genuine trajectories; José Antonio Trujillo (OTR) looks for pieces that demand attentive glances; and Borja Fernández Cobaleda selects projects attached to rural areas (Campocerrado).
In the extensive list, some confess to finding adrenaline discharges in contemplation; others, serenities. Sometimes purchases are quick and impulsive; On other occasions, the fruit of long searches. Their reasons for acquiring art are as diverse as the works themselves: from the conflict pieces of Txomin Badiola to those alluding to the primary ways of life of Asunción Molinos Gordo, from the very Germanic Anselm Kiefer and the refined Imi Knoebel to the vigorous expression of Carlos León, from the contained lines of Soledad Sevilla to the parallel dimensions of Leonor Serrano Rivas. From the alternative looks of Nan Goldin to those attached to wood and simplicity of Jacobo Castellano.
The management of CentroCentro has structured them thematically into five sections, with the support of an advisory committee composed of María de Corral, Joaquín Gallego, Rosina Gómez-Baeza, Julieta de Haro, Lorena Martínez de Corral and Lucía Ybarra. Those chapters are: Contemporary horizons, Beyond the line, Shadows of power, The body as territory and The built space; As you can guess, his approaches have as much to do with the issues of our days as they do with the ever-present challenges of representation.
If all these works belonged to a single patron, he could be a prince of today who loves the strange and possesses a wunderkammer postmodern. The spirit of Rudolf II of Prague is left behind, but not the void to be filled by collecting, the searches to be filled with art, the awareness of mortality and the consequent desire to leave a legacy, or the understanding, sometimes, of the work as a totem.
In parallel, this space of the Madrid City Council these days exhibits the proposals of Ana Juan and Javier Garcerá, from FOD and four young authors, born in the late nineties and early 2000s and living in Madrid: Sofía Briales (Arta Delharte), Mario Manso, Isabel Merchante and Ángel Sevillano.
“Madrid Collects: 50 Contemporary Art Collections”
CENTERCENTER. CYBELES PALACE
Plaza de Cibeles, 1
Madrid
From February 26 to September 6, 2026
