Art programme

Centro Botín maintains and nurtures the Art Programme that the Fundación Botín has been developing since the 1980s. The Visual Arts Advisory Committee, which is in charge of the programme, is chaired by Vicente Todolí, and its other members include Paloma Botín, Udo Kittelman, Manuela Mena, Mª José Salazar and Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz, Artistic Director of the Centro Botín.

This Art programme is built on three pillars: training through scholarships and international workshops conducted by top internationally renowned artists; research into the drawing styles of the major Spanish artists throughout the ages; and international exhibitions run by the Fundación itself as a result of its research and training programmes.

Research

Education

Exhibition

Publications

The Fundación Botín’s interest in Spanish drawing arose in 2006 when the institution began a line of systematic inquiry aimed at understanding and spreading awareness about drawing in Spanish art, considered one of the most interesting and fruitful art forms of Spain’s great masters since the 16th century until modern times.

The result of this takes the form of a pioneering editorial line highlighting drawings by the masters of Spanish art, and a series of monographic exhibitions dedicated to the artists that the study focused on.

With the help of renowned specialists and research teams, the Fundación Botín has published the catalogue raisonné of Eduardo Rosales (1836-1873), Antonio del Castillo (1616-1668), Pablo Gargallo (1881-1934), Alonso Cano (1601-1667), Mariano Salvador Maella (1739-1819), José Gutiérrez Solana (1886 – 1945) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). The next to be published is that of José de Madrazo (1781-1859), and in 2019 we will publish the five volumes of the catalogue raisonné of Drawings by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), resulting from the agreement signed with the Museo del Prado.

In the 1990s, the Fundación Botín launched a grant programme which has become a vital component to artistic creation, granting Visual Arts Grants each year supporting the development of projects, research, and training of artists, in addition to  Curatorial Studies grants aimed at providing training abroad to professionals in the specific field of contemporary art.

Furthermore, since 1994, the Villa Iris Visual Arts Workshop has been bringing together young artists from across the world in Santander, to learn alongside renowned names in the art world. Miroslaw Balka, Lothar Baumgarten, Tacita Dean, Carlos Garaicoa, Paul Graham, Mona Hatoum, Jannis Kounellis, Julie Mehretu, Antoni Muntadas, Gabriel Orozco, Juliâo Sarmentó and Juan Uslé are some of the workshop directors who have shared their experiences and knowledge at Villa Iris.

The Centro Botín houses exhibitions based on the research into the drawings by Spain’s greatest artists. It also shows monographic exhibitions of the internationally renowned artists that direct the Villa Iris Visual Arts Workshop each year in Santander, such as Lothar Baumgarten, Tacita Dean, and Carlos Garaicoa.

To add to the programme, there are monographic exhibitions by key figures in the history of 20th century art, such as Paul Klee, Jean Michel Basquiat and Sol Lewitt, as well as other exhibitions that contextualise and offer the key to understanding contemporary art, such as Dynasty and Divinity. Ife Art in ancient Nigeria, The Cosmos of the Russian Avant-garde. Art and Space Exploration 1900- 1930, María Blanchard. Cubist and Art in the Age of Altamira.

In 2006, research began to understand the drawings of the great masters of Spanish art from the 16th century to the present day. This research resulted in a pioneering editorial line on Art History, documenting one of the most interesting and fruitful art forms by Spain’s great masters until the present day.

With the help of renowned specialists and research teams, the Fundación Botín has published the catalogue raisonné of Eduardo Rosales (1836-1873), Antonio del Castillo (1616-1668), Pablo Gargallo (1881-1934), Alonso Cano (1601-1667), Mariano Salvador Maella (1739-1819), José Gutiérrez Solana (1886 – 1945) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). Next to be published is José de Madrazo (1781-1859). In 2019, we will publish the five volumes of the catalogue raisonné of Drawings by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), resulting from the agreement signed with the Museo del Prado.

The Centro Botín also publishes illustrated catalogues of the exhibitions it houses which help to understand and gain a deeper insight into its artistic programme and spreads awareness of the artists

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