{"id":41979,"date":"2026-04-05T14:55:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41979"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:55:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:55:05","slug":"mexican-art-world-protests-over-plan-to-send-frida-kahlo-masterpieces-to-spain-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41979","title":{"rendered":"Mexican art world protests over plan to send Frida Kahlo masterpieces to Spain | Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"


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One of the world\u2019s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo<\/a> and Diego Rivera, is set to be exported to Spain under an agreement with Banco Santander<\/a>, sparking outrage among Mexico\u2019s cultural community.<\/p>\n

Nearly 400 cultural professionals have signed an open letter<\/a> calling on the Mexican government to offer greater clarity on what the deal means for the masterpieces, particularly the works by Kahlo, which the Mexican state has declared an \u201cartistic monument\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very serious issue,\u201d said Francisco Berzunza, a historian and one of eight people who published the open letter. \u201cShe [Kahlo] is the most important artist in the history of our country and it\u2019s easier to see her work outside of Mexico<\/a> than in Mexico itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The row centres on a collection of 160 works from the Gelman collection, rebranded as the Gelman Santander collection. Originally owned by the collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman, the paintings, sketches and photographs were bought<\/a> by the Mexican Zambrano family in 2023.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Portrait of Natasha Gelman, 1943, by Rufino Tamayo.<\/span> Photograph: Rufino Tamayo\/Tamayo heirs\/Mexico\/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As well as Kahlo and Rivera, the collection includes works by Rufino Tamayo, Jos\u00e9 Clemente Orozco, Mar\u00eda Izquierdo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and a selection of Mexican photography.<\/p>\n

Under the Santander deal, the collection, currently on public display in Mexico for the first time in nearly 20 years, will return to Spain<\/a> this summer where it will become a cornerstone of the bank\u2019s new cultural centre, the Faro Santander.<\/p>\n

In announcing the agreement in January, Santander said it would be \u201cresponsible for the conservation, research and exhibition\u201d of the collection. But the ambiguity of the announcement, which did not say how long the works would remain in Spain, sparked concern.<\/p>\n

The concern turned to indignation when Faro Santander\u2019s director, Daniel Vega P\u00e9rez de Arlucea, told El Pa\u00eds<\/a> that legislation governing the works was \u201cflexible\u201d and that the collection would have a \u201cpermanent presence\u201d at the new cultural centre.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Landscape with Cacti, 1931, by Diego Rivera.<\/span> Photograph: Diego Rivera\/Banco de M\u00e9xico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust\/VEGAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Members of Mexico\u2019s cultural community fear the deal means the works may never return to Mexico and say the law is unambiguous when it comes to these national treasures.<\/p>\n

Gabriela Mosqueda, a curator and another one of the letter\u2019s initial signatories, said: \u201cCurrent legislation is very protective of these works, specifically those designated as national artistic monuments. It deems them to be of significant value to Mexican identity and to the history of Mexican art.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dispute is particularly pertinent to Kahlo\u2019s works, which received the \u201cartistic monument\u201d status in 1984: the presidential decree states clearly that her oeuvre may leave Mexico only temporarily and that the country\u2019s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal) is responsible for \u201crepatriating\u201d any works held in private collections overseas.<\/p>\n

Artists, curators and others in Mexico\u2019s cultural scene say that with the Santander deal, Inbal, which owns only four of Kahlo\u2019s 150 or so pieces, has done just the opposite.<\/p>\n

Berzunza said: \u201cThis decree was specifically intended to put a lock on private collections. To ensure they would not leave the country or be dispersed. That\u2019s why we\u2019re defending it so vigorously.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In response to the uproar, Mexico\u2019s president, Claudia Sheinbaum said<\/a>: \u201cOur desire is for [the collection] to remain in Mexico.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Diego Rivera.<\/span> Photograph: Banco de M\u00e9xico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust\/VEGAP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The minister of culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said<\/a>: \u201cThe collection is Mexican; it wasn\u2019t sold \u2013 it\u2019s only leaving temporarily.\u201d She said the artworks would return to Mexico in 2028.<\/p>\n

Santander issued a statement<\/a> emphasising that the deal \u201cdoes not imply, under any circumstances, either the acquisition of the collection or its permanent removal from Mexico\u201d and that the works \u201cwill return to Mexico at the end of the temporary export period\u201d.<\/p>\n

But cultural figures in Mexico remain up in arms. They say the deal signed between Inbal and Santander is ambiguous and overly favourable to the Spanish bank.<\/p>\n

The contract between the two institutions, seen by the Guardian, states that although the export is \u201ctemporary\u201d, Faro Santander will have charge over the collection \u201cat any point\u201d between June 2026 and 30 September 2030, \u201ca term that may be extended by mutual agreement through the extension of the present contract\u201d.<\/p>\n

Berzunza said: \u201cIf the works were not to return, a fundamental part of this artist\u2019s body of work \u2013 and her history \u2013 would be lost. She is, after all, the most important female Mexican artist in history. These pieces are fundamental to telling her story, and they are fundamental to understanding our identity as Mexicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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One of the world\u2019s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, is set to be exported to Spain…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}