This permanent exhibition presents a selection of works from Jaime Botín’s personal collection, which his heirs have generously entrusted to Centro Botín. It is the heart of the exhibition programme, as it contributes to understanding the intergenerational relationships – aesthetic, ethical, formal – that have led us to the art of the present day and that continue to build what is yet to come.

The exhibition brings together 14 important 20th-century artists with intense, expressive works that interact in their contrasting tones, textures and styles, in a reflective visual dialogue, expressing deep feelings despite their heterogeneous aesthetics, which intensifies their unity and cohesion with the viewer.

The exhibition features Spanish artists such as Manolo Millares, Pablo Palazuelo and Antoni Tàpies, whose work is aligned with abstraction, be it material, expressionist or geometric, in a contrasting dialogue with the luminism of Joaquín Sorolla; the cubism of María Blanchard and Juan Gris; the poetic painting of Joan Miró; the lyrical figuration of Pancho Cossío; the realism of José Gutiérrez Solana; the Noucentisme of Isidre Nonell; and the neo-cubism of Daniel Vázquez Díaz.

Also present are some of the most significant international artists of the 20th century, including Francis Bacon, representing new figuration; Henri Matisse, representing fauvism; and Mark Rothko, representing expressionism.

They all belong to two significant moments in art history: the avant-garde period and the art of the post-World War II era.

The exhibition features a plurality of practices by singular artists who broke the molds and canons of their time and who, from their unique positions, were able to meet, influence or contradict each other. Each work coexists in its unquestionable individuality with the others and participates in a collective and evolutionary process within the history of art.

The vigorous points, as well as the various counterpoints seen throughout the exhibition, offer us a glimpse into the personality of Jaime Botín Sanz de Sautuola y García de los Ríos (1936- 2024). A great lover of the arts, with extensive knowledge in the field and gifted with a special sensitivity, he included works in his collection that had to meet a sole requirement: the painting itself had to interest him and he had to feel close to it.

A member of the Fundación Botín Governing Board since its creation in 1965, and vice president of its Board of Trustees since it was established in 1996, the works featured in this room are a testament to Jaime Botín’s social and philanthropic commitment.