Tribute to Helga de Alvear

Helga de Alvear Museum paid tribute to Helga de Alvear, collector, gallery owner, philanthropist and main driving force behind the Museum. Helga de Alvear, a key figure in the development of contemporary art in Spain, passed away in Madrid on February 2, 2025, leaving behind a legacy that will remain for posterity in her museum in Cáceres. The tribute, which lasted the entire weekend on the  of September, included a private event and an extensive public programme, with the opening of new exhibition galleries, guided public tours, concerts and participatory activities.

The private event, presented and chaired by the museum’s director, Sandra Guimarães, featured speeches by family members such as Patricia de Alvear, daughter of the collector and vice-president of the Helga de Alvear Foundation Board of Trustees, as well as other authorities. “Helga will always remain a leading figure for gallery owners, patrons and collectors of future generations (...) Her legacy inspires us and invites us to celebrate many possible futures. Helga de Alvear's passion for art was embedded in her words, gestures, actions and presence, and it lives on in every work of her collection, in every space of her museum”, said Sandra Guimarães, director of the museum.

Among those who shared words of remembrance in memory of Helga de Alvear were the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Reina Sofía Foundation and member of the Board of Trustees of the Helga de Alvear Foundation, Ángeles González-Sinde; Helga's close friend and current director of the Museu Habitat project, Manuel Borja-Villel; the Head of the Bank of Spain Collection and member of the Board of Trustees of the Helga de Alvear Foundation, Yolanda Romero; ARCO International Art Fair director, Maribel López Zambrana, Helga de Alvear Gallery director, Alberto Gallardo, gallery owner Elba Benítez, and artists Karin Sander, Ignasi Aballí and Thomas Hirschhorn. 

The private event brought together numerous personalities from the national and international art scene, including the director of the Reina Sofia Museum, Manuel Segade; the head of exhibitions and curator at MACBA, Chu Hiuwai, the director of CA2M Museum, Tania Pardo; Thomas Schulte, Oliva Arauna, José de la Mano and Esther Schipper galleries directors, and artists such as Candida Höfer, Cristina Lucas, Prudencio Irazabal, Axel Hütte and Thomas Locher, among many other key figures from the national and international art scene.

As part of the public programme, open to all, attendees could enjoy a piano concert featuring the world premiere of A otra cosa’(2025), a piece for solo piano composed by María de Alvear, daughter of Helga de Alvear, for her mother, a jazz live show by Anaut and concerts perfomed by children and young musicians from the local conservatory and music academies in different locations throughout the Helga de Alvear Museum.

For this special occasion, the Museum opened a new chapter of the exhibition dedicated to Helga de Alvear Collection, unveiling a selection of works that show Helga de Alvear's passion for abstraction and colour, and including some of the collector's latest acquisitions and works never exhibited before. This new chapter, entitled “New Islands for Helga: The Sense of Abstraction” is part of the greater exhibition Can the Archipelago Enter the Museum?, inspired by the thinking of Édouard Glissant.

The selection includes artworks by artists such as Georg Baselitz, Ángela de la Cruz, Ugo Rondinone, Carmen Herrera, Anna-Eva Bergman, Tobias Rehberger, Franz Erhard Walther and Ignasi Aballí, among others. “There is no better way to honour the memory of Helga de Alvear than to visit the museum and discover her commitment and passion for art through the works she collected” says Guimarães.

Helga de Alvear Museum in Cáceres, Spain, was created to house on the most significant private collection of international contemporary art in Europe, developed over 40 years by the leading gallerist and collector, Helga de Alvear. Besides the collection, the museum is developing an ambitious temporary exhibition program as well as community engagement projects. Helga de Alvear Museum is free of charge, accessible and open, and a place for experimentation, research and dissemination, where art is a tool for critical thinking. Its main purpose is to fulfil Helga de Alvear's dream and continue transforming people's lives through art.