ART MADRID '26: 21 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

In 2026, Art Madrid will celebrate its 21st edition, further consolidating its position as a leading contemporary art fair in Spain. From 4 to 8 March, the fair will bring together thirty-five national and international galleries at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. Returning to its date during Madrid Art Week, Art Madrid reaffirms its pioneering role by expanding the fair calendar and offering an open and enriching dialogue in which diverse artistic proposals coexist.

Throughout its history, Art Madrid has established itself as a leading presence in the contemporary art scene. It is renowned for its commitment to promoting both emerging and established galleries, and for its dedication to making contemporary art accessible to a diverse range of audiences.

Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity in its offering, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and promoting a plural creative ecosystem that reflects the richness and differences of the current art scene.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

GALLERY PROGRAM: AN ACTIVE MAP OF CONTEMPORARY CREATION

The Gallery Program is at the heart of Art Madrid’26. For this edition, thirty-five national and international galleries will participate in a space that celebrates experimentation, hybrid languages, and the latest artistic production. The selection of proposals constitutes a representative mosaic of the aesthetics, discourses, and contemporary practices that are shaping the present of art in Europe.

The Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles will once again be transformed into a dynamic space where the exhibitions interact with each other, inviting the public to explore visual narratives that show the evolution of contemporary languages. Works that experiment with new media, formal investigations that reformulate traditional techniques, pieces that reflect on the links between technology and humanity, and poetic approaches that explore territory, identity, or memory make up a plural, stimulating journey open to multiple interpretations.

Art Madrid also continues to strive to become a platform for discovery, allowing both professionals and visitors to identify new voices and consolidate relationships with artists who are already emerging as leaders within the contemporary cultural landscape.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS

Thirty-five galleries are participating in this edition, twenty-seven of which are returning after finding the fair to be a favourable environment in which to strengthen connections, increase visibility and promote their artists' work on an international scene.

Twenty-six of these are Spanish galleries from various regions of the country: 3 Punts Gallery (Barcelona), Alba Cabrera Gallery (Valencia), Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), CLC ARTE (Valencia), DDR Art Gallery (Madrid), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid), g • gallery (Barcelona), Galería Arancha Osoro (Oviedo), Galería BAT alberto cornejo (Madrid), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia), Galería Carmen Terreros (Zaragoza), Galería Espiral (Noja), Galería La Mercería (Valencia), Galería Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela), Galería María Aguilar (Cadiz), Metro Gallery (Santiago de Compostela), Rodrigo Juarranz Gallery (Aranda de Duero), Sigüenza Gallery (Sigüenza), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid), Inéditad Gallery (Barcelona), Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián), LAVIO (Murcia | Shanghai), Moret Art (A Coruña), Pigment Gallery (Barcelona), Shiras Galería (Valencia) and Uxval Gochez Gallery (Barcelona). This selection of galleries highlights the importance of the Spanish scene and its contribution to the development of the contemporary cultural ecosystem.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

The nine international galleries participating in this edition are: Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Collage Habana (Havana, Cuba), Galeria São Mamede (Lisbon, Portugal), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca, Spain), Loo & Lou Gallery (Paris, France), Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea (Ílhavo, Portugal), Trema Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, Portugal) and Yiri Arts (Taipei, Taiwan). Their participation broadens the fair's international reach, promoting creative and conceptual exchange between diverse artistic perspectives.

In addition, eight new galleries have been added to the list of exhibitors:

Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid, Spain), g • gallery (Barcelona, Spain), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia, Spain), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), Galería Sigüenza (Sigüenza, Spain), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid, Spain) and KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca). These additions reinforce Art Madrid's commitment to continuous renewal and openness to spaces that are exploring new approaches to contemporary art.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

PARALLEL PROGRAM: A REFLECTION ON THE ‘SPECIES’ OF SPACES

One of the great attractions of Art Madrid is its Parallel Program, which this time delves into the notions of: ‘Fragments, relationships, and imaginary distances.’ This approach turns the fair into an expanded space, where art, audience, architecture, and memory converge. Thus, the Parallel Program proposes a critical approach to the container of the event itself. Taking as a reference the reading of Species of Spaces by Georges Perec (Perec, Georges. Species of Spaces. Montesinos, 2004), it adopts a marked interest in the everyday, that which usually goes unnoticed, the infra-ordinary, giving each corner of the venue its own narrative value.

Another of the conceptual references of this edition is based on an analysis of Édouard Glissant's Poetics of Relation (Glissant, Édouard. Poetics of Relation; Prologue by Manuel Rebón. - 1st ed. - Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2017.), which advocates the coexistence of differences and the importance of non-totalizing links, which are extrapolated to the art system, proposing an understanding of it as a network of exchanges and connections that respect the uniqueness of each cultural practice and actor.

‘Imaginary distances,’ understood as subjective journeys and affective cartographies traced by visitors, thus become the conceptual axis that articulates this program. This perspective transforms the Fair into an experience that goes beyond visual contemplation, turning it into a territory that can be collectively reconstructed, without losing sight of the paths travelled by the individuality of each voice.

In this edition, the Parallel Program encourages visitors to engage with the space and its projects, turning contemplation into an opportunity to question and interact with things that might otherwise go unnoticed in everyday life.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

In the preview and during Art Week, Art Madrid'26 offers a range of experiences that allow the public to get closer to the creative process and practices of the participating artists. Among the returning initiatives are the Interview Program, Curated Walkthroughs, the third edition of Open Booth, dedicated to emerging creation, the presentation of Espacio Nebrija, a university project in collaboration with Nebrija University, alongside the fair’s established Performance Cycle.

In addition, the One Shot Collectors Program and the second edition of the Patronage Program are back. These initiatives seek to strengthen the bond between collectors, artists, and the public, promoting ethical, informed, and responsible practices in collecting and patronage.

Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano

Art Madrid'26 has established itself as a dynamic meeting place, where diverse experiences, discourses, and practices converge. Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity as a structuring principle, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and fostering a plural creative ecosystem. This plurality is not merely formal, but translates into a network of practices, languages, and perspectives that reflects the complexity, richness, and tensions of the contemporary art scene, consolidating the fair as a catalyst for cultural relations, an observatory of emerging trends, and an international reference point for the Spanish art scene.

Each edition of Art Madrid is, above all, an exercise in observation. Rather than a closed declaration of intent, it functions as a space where different artistic practices coexist and enter into dialogue, reflecting the moment in which they are produced. In 2026, the fair reaches its 21st edition, consolidating an identity grounded in plurality, close attention to artistic practice, and the coexistence of diverse languages within a shared curatorial framework.

Simone Theelen. Dream Botanic. 2023. Mixed media on leather. 160 × 140 cm. Uxval Gochez Gallery.

In this context, Art Madrid’26 does not present a single dominant aesthetic or a unified narrative. What unfolds in the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles is a broad and varied landscape, shaped by the proposals of national and international galleries working with artists whose practices respond—each from very different positions—to shared questions: how to continue producing images, objects, and discourses in a saturated context; how to engage with tradition without becoming trapped by it; and how to make the contemporary visible without falling into the ephemeral.

This text offers a reading of the aesthetic currents running through the fair, understood not as closed categories but as lines of force. These currents help to clarify what visitors will encounter and from which coordinates a significant part of contemporary artistic production is emerging today. This approach is rooted in one of Art Madrid’s core principles: respecting the DNA of each exhibitor while fostering a plural creative ecosystem capable of reflecting the richness and diversity of the current artistic landscape.

Sergio de la Flora. La cena. 2022. Oil on canvas. 120 × 120 cm. Inéditad Gallery.

One of the most consistent features of Art Madrid’26 is the attention paid to materiality. Painting, sculpture, and works on paper are presented as spaces where material is not merely a support, but an active element within the discourse itself. Many of the works draw on traditional techniques—oil, acrylic, graphite, ceramic, or wood—but are approached with a fully contemporary awareness. Surfaces become sites of accumulation, erosion, sheen, or density. Gestures remain visible, and the construction of the work is embraced as an essential part of each artistic language.

This emphasis on materiality does not stem from nostalgia for craftsmanship, but from a desire for presence. In contrast to the relentless circulation of digital images, these works demand time, close viewing, and physical attention. Rather than seeking immediate impact, they invite a slower and more sustained relationship with the viewer.

Ana Cardoso. Ser Casa #2. 2025. Acrylic on MDF. 78 × 100 cm. Galeria São Mamede.

Painting occupies a central place within the fair, though it does so from highly diverse positions. This is not a return to academic models, nor a rejection of contemporaneity, but an expanded understanding of painting—open to the incorporation of other materials and visual languages. Works appear in which oil coexists with spray paint, collage, resins, or graphite; surfaces where the pictorial merges with the object-based; images that move between abstraction, fragmented figuration, and symbolic reference. Painting is understood here as a flexible field, capable of absorbing influences from urban art, design, photography, and archival practices. For visitors, this results in a journey where painting is not presented as a homogeneous language, but as a territory of constant exploration shaped by varied and enriching formal decisions.

Mario Soria. My Candy House. 2024. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. 59 × 50 cm. Aurora Vigil-Escalera.

Rather than fading away, art history emerges at Art Madrid’26 as an active working material. Some proposals engage directly with classical iconographies or traditional genres such as portraiture, still life, or historical scenes, but do so from a critical and displaced perspective.

These works do not aim to reproduce past models. Instead, they place them under tension by altering context or scale, introducing unexpected elements, or foregrounding aspects that today appear problematic or revealing. Tradition is approached not as a fixed canon, but as an open archive—one that can be revisited, questioned, and rewritten. This dialogue resonates both with viewers who recognize historical references and with those who encounter them through a contemporary lens, aware that images of the past continue to shape how we understand the present.

Yasiel Elizagaray. From the Liminal series, No. 1. 2025. Mixed media on canvas. 170 × 150 cm. Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea.

Another defining thread of Art Madrid’26 is the dissolution of boundaries between disciplines. Many works resist classification within a single category, operating simultaneously as painting and object, sculpture and drawing, image and structure.

This hybridity reflects a contemporary context in which artistic languages no longer function in isolation. The resulting works call for open-ended readings, where form, material, and idea interact without fixed hierarchies, encouraging viewers to navigate meaning through experience rather than predefined frameworks.

Faustino Ruiz de la Peña. Lope. 2025. Oil, pencil and pigment. 31 × 27 cm. Galería Arancha Osoro.

Drawing and works on paper hold a significant presence in this edition. Far from being understood as preparatory or secondary, many of these pieces function as autonomous works—precise, deliberate, and conceptually robust.

Through lines, grids, voids, and repetitions, artists construct images that explore territory, memory, architecture, and the body. An economy of means does not diminish complexity; instead, paper becomes a space for visual thinking, where the passage of time and the trace of gesture are clearly registered. These works introduce a slower rhythm into the fair, inviting moments of pause and attentive observation.

Prado Vielsa. Haz de luz 2502. 2025. Digital print on folded transparent cast acrylic. 29 × 27 × 23 cm. Carmen Terreros Gallery.

Sculpture occupies an especially meaningful position at Art Madrid’26, situated between the organic and the structural, and between artisanal processes and industrial solutions. The use of recycled wood, ceramics, metals, and synthetic materials is not merely technical, but conceptual—prompting reflection on materiality, time, and transformation.

These pieces emphasize form, balance, and spatial relationships, understanding sculpture as a body that engages in dialogue with its environment and with the physical presence of the viewer. Often presented as symbolic objects rather than narrative devices, they activate open fields of association where meaning emerges through experience rather than explanation.

Reload. Blond Ambition. 2025. Pink, black and white marble. 62 × 32 × 12 cm. LAVIO.

Alongside more gestural and material-based approaches, the fair also includes works grounded in geometry, pattern, and structure. Built upon precise visual systems, these pieces employ repetition, symmetry, and modulation to generate rhythm and tension. They offer a counterpoint of restraint and formal control within the broader context of the fair, expanding the aesthetic spectrum and underscoring the diversity of contemporary artistic approaches.

Many of the works presented articulate non-linear narratives composed of symbols, cross-references, and deliberately ambiguous spaces. Rather than offering closed stories or singular interpretations, they function as open images—points of activation that invite interpretive engagement.

This approach reflects a contemporary sensibility that challenges the notion of fixed meaning, shifting part of the responsibility for interpretation onto the viewer. The artwork becomes a space of negotiation, where memory, experience, and perception actively shape understanding.

MINK. CRISTATUS – Ambition. 2025. Spray paint on wood. 120 × 106 cm.La Mercería.600:800

The body of work brought together in this edition reveals a sustained engagement with matter as a site of reflection and meaning-making. In the face of increasingly rapid and dematerialized modes of production, these works reaffirm the value of material support, process, and time as fundamental elements of artistic practice. This shared orientation does not define a single aesthetic, but establishes a common ground where diverse practices converge around the need to anchor artistic experience in the tangible and the constructed. Within this context, Art Madrid consolidates itself as a meeting space where contemporary art is presented with critical awareness, rigor, and clarity—fostering an active relationship between artwork, artist, and audience.