Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection will bring together works by some of the greatest figures in art history such as Titian, el Greco, Rubens, Velázquez, Goya, Tàpies, Soledad Sevilla and Juan Uslé, among others.
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection will feature works of exceptional historical and cultural significance by artists including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Orozco, Siquieros and Gunther Gerzso
The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to the work Carrington produced in Santander in 1940, will present two remarkable paintings alongside the artist’s full Santander series.
Faro Santander’s opening marks the transformation of the former Banco Santander HQ into a new 10,000m² cultural space in northern Spain, with six floors devoted to exhibitions, a technology hub, a space dedicated to Cantabrian artists, a mezzanine for families, an auditorium, a restaurant and a rooftop observation deck with views of the Bay of Santander.
Santander, 24th July 2026.
Faro Santander, the new art centre launched by the Banco Santander Foundation, will open on 8 September with an ambitious inaugural exhibitions programme in an evolving cultural hub in Santander, northern Spain.
The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington, a touring show which explores Carrington’s artistic journey in Santander during World War II, will be joined by two major exhibitions: Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection, which spans almost five centuries of art history, from the Renaissance to contemporary art, including works by renowned masters such as Titian, Rubens, el Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Miró, Tàpies, Soledad Sevilla and Juan Uslé and Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection, featuring works by key figures in modern Mexican art history, including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Orozco, Siqueiros y Gunther Gerzso.
Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and the Lion (1648). Banco Santander Collection. Photograph: Joaquín Cortés
The history of art, told through selected masterpieces
Faro Santander will dedicate an entire floor to the Banco Santander Collection, a relatively unknown treasure trove of artworks accumulated over 160 years, which will feature permanently through changing exhibitions. Curated by María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco for the inaugural programme, Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection, will bring together many of the leading names in art history in a journey that traces a previously untold narrative spanning almost five centuries of art history, from the panel painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), La predicación de san Juan Bautista (The Preaching of St John the Baptist) (1537–1540), to the painting Soñé que revelabas (Sutlej-Indo) (I Dreamt You Were Revealing) by Juan Uslé (1954).
Divided into sections, the exhibition weaves together classical and contemporary artists, with works by Titian, el Greco, Rubens, Velázquez, Goya, Tàpies, Soledad Sevilla, Sorolla and Juan Uslé, among others. Drawn from more than 160 years of acquisitions, the collection reflects a long tradition of collecting and stewardship, and stands as a material record of the institution’s own history. Its selection ranges across depictions of people, objects and places, seen through markedly different artistic sensibilities. “We wanted to show how artists and images from different periods and styles come together, and to bring out the currents that run through such a multifaceted collection,” says curator María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco.
The exhibition is arranged in four thematic sections – Sacred Stories; Places and Landscapes; Things: Still Life; and Portraits, Types, Figures – which explore human and visual complexity through a carefully chosen selection of works from the collection. It opens with Sacred Stories, where spirituality and mystery come together in works by Titian, el Greco, Rubens, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Chillida, Tàpies and Torner. This is followed by Places and Landscapes, where nature becomes a cultural setting shaped by memory and identity, from the idealised views of Canaletto and Beruete to the abstract evocations of Chirino, Guerrero, Soledad Sevilla and Cristina Iglesias.
The exhibition continues with a striking selection of still life paintings, tracing the genre from the Baroque to the end of the twentieth century, with works by Juan de Arellano, Luis Meléndez, Luis Gordillo and Miquel Barceló. The exhibition closes with portraiture, tracing how both society and the way the individual is represented have changed – from the courtly formality of Van Dyck and Giuseppe Bonito to the freer visions of Francisco de Goya, Sorolla, Miró, Millares, Equipo Crónica and Niki de Saint Phalle.
To accompany the exhibition, Faro Santander has published Nuevas miradas, a volume in which fourteen specialists from different cultural fields offer their personal reflections on a selection of the collection’s most significant works, chosen by María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco.
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection
Following the success of Relatos Modernos. Obras Emblemáticas de la Colección Gelman Santander at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, a new presentation of the collection will open at Faro Santander on 8 September and will remain on view until 10 January 2027.
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection, curated by Marisol Argüelles, director of the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, brings together extraordinary works of historical and cultural significance by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Gunther Gerzso and Francisco Toledo, alongside an outstanding body of photography.
Jacques and Natasha Gelman assembled the collection over five decades, from 1941 to 1998, and it now ranks among the most important holdings of twentieth-century Mexican art. With close to a hundred works on show, “this exhibition will offer multiple perspectives on Mexican modernity, bringing together leading muralists as well as artists who pursued alternative paths within the country’s art scene,” says Marisol Argüelles. She notes that Frida Kahlo “occupies a central place in the collection, which includes an outstanding group of self-portraits tracing the artist’s personal and artistic development.” The exhibition features paintings, drawings and prints by Kahlo from multiple stages of her career, including some of her most iconic self-portraits, such as Diego en mi pensamiento (Diego on My Mind) and Autorretrato con monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys).
The exhibition will also present other significant works from the Gelman Santander Collection, among them Diego Rivera’s celebrated Portrait of Natasha Gelman and Vendedora de alcatraces (Woman Selling Calla Lilies), two of the collection’s earliest acquisitions, as well as Rufino Tamayo’s Portrait of Cantinflas, a testament to the friendship between Jacques Gelman and one of Mexican cinema’s best-known figures. Also featured are works by artists central to Mexican modernism, including Gunther Gerzso, María Izquierdo, Wolfgang Paalen and Francisco Toledo, whose watercolour Perro con escoba (Dog with Broom) was among Natasha Gelman’s last acquisitions.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a book that takes readers on a journey through the collection. Essays by Marisol Argüelles, Sylvia Navarrete and Estrella de Diego provide critical and contextual perspectives on the collection’s significance. This unique publication will be available in the Faro Santander shop from 8 September.
Leonora Carrington in Santander
In addition to these two major exhibitions, The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to the artistic work produced by the painter, writer and visionary Leonora Carrington during her stay at Dr Morales’ sanatorium in Santander during World War II.
First staged at the Freud Museum in London, the touring exhibition marks the public unveiling in Santander of the newly discovered oil on canvas Villa Pilar, which the artist dedicated to and gifted to her doctor upon leaving the sanatorium. The painting had remained hidden for decades and is now being exhibited following its discovery by the Faro Santander research team.
Faro Santander's live programming
Alongside an exhibitions programme, Faro Santander will offer a broad programme of activities.
Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection will include a weekly series of conversations that shift the exhibition’s themes into the present day. It will also feature performances by artists invited to respond to the collection, as well as guided visits and family activities.
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection will be accompanied by film screenings, music, talks and guided tours that bring out the many stories contained within the works, with a special focus on Día de Muertos, one of the most cherished festivals in the Mexican calendar. This programme is presented in collaboration with Fundación Casa de México and The Cultural Institute of México in Spain.
The public programme for The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington is being developed with local, national and international partners. It will include an audio walk in Parque de la Vaca, the former site of the sanatorium; a theatre piece on Carrington’s confinement in Santander; and an immersive day of talks and artistic events.
Faro Santander will also engage closely with Cantabria’s artistic and cultural life, with a dedicated space for collaborative projects developed with cultural organisations across the region.
Faro Santander will also feature a new space for families, designed for exploration and creative discovery. Art and technology will play a central role too, through innovative installations and a platform for projects exploring artistic innovation and experimentation. Finally, visitors will have a chance to experience previously unseen views of the city and Bay of Santander on the building’s terrace.
The inaugural programme marks the transformation of Banco Santander’s historic headquarters into a new centre bringing together art, culture and technology in a space open to all – internationally minded, yet firmly rooted in Cantabria.
“Created as both a meeting place for the people of Cantabria and a cultural destination for visitors from around the world, Faro Santander aims to bring art, technology and culture closer to everyone, creating new opportunities for discovery, participation and exchange,” says Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, director of Faro Santander. “Through this varied exhibition programme, the centre aims to position Santander and Cantabria as one of northern Spain’s leading cultural hubs and to strengthen their presence on the international art scene.”
FARO SANTANDER PROGRAMME PREVIEW
Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection
8 September 2026 – February 2027
Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection
8 September 2026 – 10 January 2027
The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington
8 September 2026 – 10 January 2027
FARO SANTANDER
Paseo de Pereda 9–12, 39004 Santander (Cantabria), Spain Opens: 8 September 2026
Tickets: Available soon at www.farosantander.com