Mexican cultural world asks for transparency about the Gelman Collection and Banco Santander says it will return to the country in 2028

The Mexican cultural world has asked for transparency regarding the legal protection of the works belonging to the Gelman Collection that it now manages Santander Bank Foundation and that it was planned to be exhibited in Spain this June. The entity has assured that will comply with Mexican legislation and that the pieces will return to the country in 2028.

“The agreement implies five years of collaboration with the current administration, a period that corresponds to an institutional framework of coordinated work, which in no way will contravene Mexican legislation in relation to the care and supervision of the works included in said collection. especially those that have special protection due to having been declared an artistic monument, anticipating their next return to Mexico in 2028.“, the Banco Santander Foundation explained in a statement.

In an open letter signed by 400 cultural professionals in this country, they have asked to make public the agreements of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) with Banco Santander for the management of the paintings, among which are works by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, María Izquierdo, Rufino Tamayo or José Clemente Orozco, among others.

The signatories show “greater concern” in the case of Frida Kahlo and explain that her works are “without a doubt the heart of this collection.” “Its legal protection is the most rigorous of all,” they add.

Thus, they disgrace the Mexican Ministry of Culture and INBAL for the “lack of transparency” that they have maintained around the agreements regarding the work of the Mexican artist.

“The citizens of this country have the right to be fully informed about the reasons that have led these authorities to allow the eleven Kahlo canvases to leave the country indefinitely. which seriously contravenes the decree that establishes that his work, unlike those of his colleagues, can only be exported temporarily“, they continue.

For its part, the foundation of the banking entity has reiterated that “no agreement signed” provides for the change of owner, nor the definitive transfer of the collection to any point outside of Mexico.

THE DATE OF ARRIVAL OF THE WORKS IN SPAIN, UNCONFIRMED

In fact, a first selection of works was planned to arrive at the Santander Lighthouse in June, coinciding with the inauguration of this cultural space in the city of Santander.

However, some are currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, until July 19 of this year, since the Mexican Government asked Banco Santander for an extension to be able to show them during the World Cup celebration in the country. Therefore, it has not been confirmed whether the Gelman Collection will be presented at the Santander Lighthouse in June as planned.

Last January, Banco Santander announced that it had reached an agreement with the Zambrano family, so it would manage the Gelman Collection in the “long term.”

The collection, which is made up of 160 pieces of 20th century Mexican art, has 18 works by Frida Kahlo that cover her entire artistic career. Thus, it includes ten paintings, seven drawings and one engraving, among which iconic self-portraits such as ‘Diego in my thought’, ‘Self-portrait with necklace’ and ‘Self-portrait with monkeys’ stand out.

It also includes pieces by Rivera, Izquierdo, Tamayo, Clemente Orozco, Gerzso, Toledo and Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as a selection of Mexican photography by authors such as Guillermo Kahlo, Graciela Iturbide, Gabriel Figueroa, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Lola Álvarez Bravo.

Already in January, the entity assured that under this agreement, the Banco Santander Foundation will be in charge of the conservation, research and exhibition of the Gelman Santander Collection.

The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection was formed in the 1940s by the couple Jacques and Natasha Gelman, who established a collection in Mexico focused on modern and contemporary Mexican painting.

Jacques Gelman trained in Europe in the field of cinema and arrived in Mexico in 1938, where he settled permanently after marrying Natasha Zahalka in 1941. Thus, he promoted the film industry by producing films and launching Cantinflas’ career, which allowed him to finance his passion for art collecting.

The Gelman couple created three collections: one of modern European art with 81 works by artists such as Renoir, Matisse, Kandinsky, Modigliani, Picasso, Braque, Dalí, Balthus, and Miró, which was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of New York in 1998; another of pre-Columbian sculpture; and a third, of modern Mexican art composed of more than 90 works that began with the commission of the portrait of Natasha to Diego Rivera in 1943.

The Gelman couple maintained a very close relationship with some of the artists such as Kahlo, Rivera, Tamayo and Gerzso. After the death of Jacques Gelman in 1986, Natasha Gelman continued to expand the collection advised by the American curator Robert R. Littman, whom she named executor of the collection in her will.

In 1998, Natasha Gelman passed away and Littman created the Vergel Foundation to manage the collection starting in 1999 and continued adding new works of modern and contemporary Mexican art to it.

In 2023, the Zambrano Family reached an agreement with the Vergel Foundation to acquire the Gelman Collection. In fact, in recent decades, the entire collection or selections from it have been the subject of international exhibitions organized by institutions such as Tate Modern, Victoria&Albert Museum, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, National Gallery of Australia, Nagoya Museum of Art, Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec, Art Gallery of Ontario, Dallas Museum of Art or Brooklyn Museum of Art.