Art Madrid'25 – Beauty in the Koplowitz Collection

 

 

“The Alicia Koplowitz-Grupo Omega Collection”, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. 

 

 

 

The exhibition include a wide art works selection of the collection, around 90 paintings and drawings of national and international Masters of the art history (dating from the 16th century to the 21st century) and sculptures (from the classical antiquity to our days). The exhibition tour is divided into nine sections: “La persistencia del ideal clásico”, “El siglo de las Luces”, “Vida privada, vida pública”, “París, cambio de siglo”, “Nuevos caminos en el arte de entreguerras”, “Materia, gesto, mancha”. “Figuraciones”, “Informalismos y abstracciones” y “Epílogo”.

 

 

Paul Gauguin, “Women at the banks of river”, 1982. Oil on canvas, 31 x 40 cm. © The Alicia Koplowitz-Grupo Omega Collection.

 

Some of the art works of the important collection that we can see in the different rooms of the Museum are “La virgen con el niño y san Juanito” of Zurbarán (17th century) or “Asalto a la diligencia” and “Hércules y Ónfala” of Goya (18th century). Of the 19th century highlight the painting of Raimundo Madrazo and those of the French post-impressionism of Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh. The 20th century represents more than half of exhibition selection, there are notable paintings of representing national and international Spanish artists.

 

      Raimundo de Madrazo, La siesta, h.1875

 

 

The abstract movement is represented in the exhibition with names like Nicolas de Staël, Piet Mondrian, Lucio Fontana or the minimalists Frank Stella and Donald Judd, for example.  American Expressionism has four important representatives in the exhibition: Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Anselm Kiefer. Of the latter is the most current art work of the collection, painted in 2014. 

 

 

Anselm Kiefer, Le Dormeur du val, 2014 

 

 

“The Alicia Koplowitz-Grupo Omega Collection” is an exhibition guided by the artistic taste of the collector, a walk for the beauty in the art in which it dominates the female universe. Bilbao Fine Arts Museum give us the opportunity to see a good selection of the collection, and as its artificer comments: “This is the result of emotions, passions and unforgettable memories that have been part and continue forming part of my life”. 

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.