More than 200 artists and art professionals in Mexico signed an open letter last week accusing the government of committing an “institutional blunder” after it allowed a newly resurfaced art collection to travel to Spain.
That collection comprises around 300 works that formerly belonged to Jacques and Natasha Gelman. Among those works are a range of treasures: some 18 pieces by Frida Kahlo, in addition to paintings by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and other giants of modern Mexican art history.
According to an El País report from earlier this year, 160 of the works resurfaced in the collection of the Madrid-based Banco Santander. The report arrived less than a year and a half after another El País report in which the Mexican government claimed it didn’t know where some of the Gelman collection was.
The Santander Foundation is now set to house the works in Spain, even though they are classified as artistic monuments in Mexico, a status that only allows them to be exported for one to two years. Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, director of a new Santander-run foundation called Faro Santander opening in June, previously stated that Mexico “will comply with customs obligations and our responsibilities.” But the open letter released last week alleged that INBAL had failed to do just this.
“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 reads.
Among the signatories are Cuauhtémoc Medina, one of Mexico’s leading curators; Magali Arriola, formerly the director of Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo; and Teresa Margolles, a preeminent Mexican artist who won a special mention from the jury at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Vega Pérez had previously stated that the exportation licenses “can be extended by the decision of INBAL.” But, the letter said, “We do not believe that the laws of this country are flexible, much less that they can be modified at will, and without making public the reasons for such flexibility, which, it should be said, has not been granted to other collectors, who might wish to enjoy the same privilege that has been extended to Banco Santander.”
Moreover, the letter accused INBAL of being “opaque” when it came to the collection and claimed that the organization had “failed to fulfill its mandate.”
In February, INBAL made a statement about the Gelman collection, noting that it had not attempted to acquire the cache of artworks because “it is truly an extremely expensive collection and public resources would not necessarily be sufficient for an acquisition of this magnitude,” according to the organization’s head, Alejandra de la Paz. Some of the collection is now on view at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
The collection was formed in the 20th century after Jacques Gelman fled Europe for Mexico in 1938. Three years later, he married Natasha Zahalka Krawak, who was born in Czechoslovakia. They amassed a rich collection of Mexican art and hosted it in their home; their bedroom even featured five paintings by Kahlo. Jacques died in 1986, and Natash followed in 1998.
They also collected European modernist art, with many of the works from that area of art history heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art following Natasha’s passing.
The Mexican part of their collection is of high importance. A 2024 El País report quoted art market expert Alberto Bremermann as saying, “Beyond its economic value, the Gelman collection is an important representation of Mexico’s artistic identity.”
