Gelman Collection’s Move to Spain Sparks Outcry From Mexican Art Figures
A trove of modern Mexican masterworks long associated with the storied Gelman collection is again at the center of a cross-border dispute, as prominent curators and artists accuse Mexico’s cultural authorities of failing to safeguard works legally protected as national patrimony.
The collection, assembled by Jacques and Natasha Gelman, comprises roughly 300 works and includes about 18 pieces by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), alongside paintings by Diego Rivera (1886–1957), José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949), and David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974), among other key figures of 20th-century Mexican art. In recent years, the whereabouts and ownership of parts of the collection have drawn increasing scrutiny.
Earlier this year, El País reported that 160 works had resurfaced within the holdings of Madrid-based Banco Santander. The report came less than a year and a half after another El País investigation in which the Mexican government said it did not know where some of the Gelman works were located.
Now, the Santander Foundation is set to house the works in Spain, even though the pieces are classified in Mexico as “artistic monuments,” a designation that restricts export to one to two years. The situation has prompted an open letter, released last week, alleging that Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) did not properly enforce the legal framework governing the collection’s movement.
Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, director of a new Santander-run foundation called Faro Santander, which is scheduled to open in June, has previously said Mexico “will comply with customs obligations and our responsibilities.” The open letter disputes that assurance, arguing that INBAL has not met its obligations.
“No one doubts that the change of ownership is a matter that strictly concerns private individuals; however, the fate of the work protected by these decrees – and for which the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature is called upon to take measures to ensure its conservation and custody – concerns us all,” the letter states.
Among the signatories are curator Cuauhtémoc Medina, a leading figure in Mexico’s contemporary art discourse; Magali Arriola, former director of Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo; and Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, who received a special mention from the jury at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Vega Pérez de Arlucea has also said export licenses “can be extended by the decision of INBAL.” The letter rejects that premise, contending that Mexican law should not be treated as negotiable, and calling for transparency about any extensions. It further argues that such flexibility has not been granted to other collectors, raising concerns about unequal application of cultural-heritage rules.
The letter also accuses INBAL of opacity regarding the collection and claims the agency has “failed to fulfill its mandate.”
INBAL addressed the Gelman collection publicly in February. According to the institute’s head, Alejandra de la Paz, INBAL did not attempt to acquire the works because “it is truly an extremely expensive collection and public resources would not necessarily be sufficient for an acquisition of this magnitude.” Portions of the collection are currently on view at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
The Gelmans’ story is closely intertwined with Mexico’s cultural history. Jacques Gelman fled Europe for Mexico in 1938; three years later he married Natasha Zahalka Krawak, who was born in Czechoslovakia. Over the decades, they built a formidable collection and displayed it in their home, where even their bedroom reportedly held five Kahlo paintings. Jacques Gelman died in 1986, and Natasha Gelman died in 1998.
The couple also collected European modernist art, and many works from that portion of their holdings went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art after Natasha’s death. But it is the Mexican component that has become a flashpoint, both for its market value and for what it represents. As art market expert Alberto Bremermann told El País in a 2024 report, “Beyond its economic value, the Gelman collection is an important representation of Mexico’s artistic identity.”
With Faro Santander preparing to open and questions mounting about export permissions, the controversy is likely to intensify, testing how Mexico’s heritage protections function when major private collections shift hands and cross borders.
