Art Madrid'25 – Sonia Delaunay, beyond the painting

 

 

"Flamenco Singer" 1915

 

 

 

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), ukrainian artist, was a key figure in parisian avant-garde. She first studied in Germany and later in Paris, where he had influences from Impressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. She experimented with Robert Delaunay, his husband, in the field of light and color, pursuing and abstract language directed toward a new art faraway from traditional habits. Together they create the Simultanism, current that focused on painting dynamism using simultaneous contrasts of colour. The artist expressed this trend both in painting and in the design of fashion, textiles and books, among others.The Delaunays associate Simultanism to modern life and urban development, and they wanted to bring it to all possible fields. Sonia claimed the importance of fashion design or decoration, equating them with painting or sculpture, in a moment when those minor arts were not valued.

 

 

 

Sonia Delaunay´s costume designs

 

 

 

The exhibition shows textile artwork together with the artist´s paintings, and underscores the period when the family lived in Madrid, city in which they settled in 1917 after I World War outbreak. The arrival in Madrid made her to approach the popular culture, above all flamenco, what she loved. After russian revolution, she no longer received an income. It was when Sonia began to design costumes for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. She designed her dresses by joining together small pieces of fabrics in different forms and textures. In parallel, she dedicated to interior decoration and, afterwards, she set up her own clothes brand and opened a shop first in Madrid and later in Paris.

 

 

 

Bal Bullier, 1913

 

 

 

Among her more relevant creations we can find her `simultaneous dresses´. The first of them was made in 1913 for Bal Bullier ballroom, and was defined by Apollinaire as `a living painting´. Sonia brings her designs on paper to canvas. It can be appreciated how flamenco culture influenced her in the `Grand Flamenco´ picture. It is also worth taking into account her designs for ballets, like the one she made for `Cleopatra´, or her dresses for film actresses, like the one she designed to Gloria Swanson.

 

 

 

Costume design for `Cleopatra´

 

 

 

Sonia Delaunay´s artwork is shown in 210 creations that belong to public institutions like the Pompidou Centre, the National Library of France, the Fashion Museum of Paris or Reina Sofía museum; as well as several private collections and the Thyssen funds, museum where it can be visited until October 10.

 

 

 

Dress designed for Gloria Swanson

 

 

 

 

 

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.