This September, northern Spain welcomes a major new cultural destination with the opening of Faro Santander, an ambitious art centre housed in the transformed former Banco Santander headquarters. Launching with an exceptional programme of inaugural exhibitions, the 10,000m² venue brings together masterpieces spanning five centuries of art history, from Titian, Velázquez and Rubens to Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Leonora Carrington. Alongside world-class exhibitions drawn from the Banco Santander and Gelman Santander collections, Faro Santander establishes itself as a vibrant new hub for contemporary culture, technology and creativity, offering a landmark addition to Spain’s cultural landscape.
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.
The history of art, told through selected masterpieces
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
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).
Pieter Paul Rubens Sansón y el león, h. 1620-1625 Oil on canvas,
Colección Banco Santande
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
Colección Banco Santande
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
Diego Rivera Portrait of Natasha Gelman, 1943 © 2026 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. Gelman Santander Collection
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)
Kahlo Museums Trust.
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.
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
Nathan Keay. © 2026 Estate of Leonora Carrington / VEGAP, Santander
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”
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
Faro Santander
Paseo de Pereda 9–12, 39004 Santander (Cantabria), Spain
Opens: 8 September 2026
Tickets: Available soon at www.farosantander.com
Find out more: www.farosantander.com
