At the age of 45, ARCO madrid it has lasted long enough that there have been generational changes in both the galleries that bring work to the fair and the collectors who frequent it. directory Maribel Lopezwho has been in this position for 15 years, should know. She herself was once a gallerist (“I wasn’t a good gallerist, but I was a passionate gallerist!”), and the experience shaped her dedication and respect “for the gallery as an institution.” When she joined ARCOmadrid in 2011, the fair was going through tough economic times. “It was difficult to convince galleries to come to Spain,” she told the Observer. “It has changed radically in these years.”
By 2015-16 the economy in Spain was improving and things started to change. “As a constant, we didn’t change our tone in what’s important to us. We never followed blue-chip galleries… Sometimes they want to come, sometimes they don’t. We don’t follow them because, to me, it changes the ecosystem too much. ARCO is a fair where people come to discover new artists, to find interesting pieces, but not at the highest prices.”
In its latest edition, held from March 4 to 8 with 211 galleries from 30 countries, there was no sign of a midlife crisis. The goal, according to López, is “sustainability of the business more than profit”, because ARCOmadrid feeds the Fundación ARCO, which promotes the collection, research of contemporary art and the publication of artistic trends and techniques. Established in 1987, the foundation’s collection includes pieces by Ryan Gander, Beatriz González, Carlos Motta, Oscar Muñoz, Adam Pendleton, Laure Prouvost and Danh Vo.
ARCOmadrid continues to function as a Latin American hub in Europe. Participation in this year’s fair was 34 percent Spanish and 66 percent international, with more than 31 percent of international galleries coming from 11 Latin American countries with a strong presence from Brazil and Argentina. López noted that Madrid outside of ARCO is “very alive” not only institutionally, but also because Latin American galleries open second spaces locally and Latin American collectors fill the scene with fresh energy.
Gallery of Madrid Memory were making their debut at the fair in this edition. “If you’re not at ARCO, you’re not doing anything,” the gallery worker Maria Gonzalez stated. She and her colleague Amalia Pascua both had round red stickers that read “Cultural VAT Now” in Spanish to show their loyalty to the strike that took place during the fair. (The Spanish government presented the possibility of VAT reform in 2024, but did not carry it out. In comparison, France, Germany and Italy has done all the VAT reforms.) Pascua said it has created “a sense of community within the galleries; we have a common goal, we are fighting for a common strategy.” It’s important to democratize art and “it’s terrible for artists and galleries, so we’re protesting against that,” González added.
The stand featured a six-foot-long canvas by the Spanish-born Chilean artist Rose Bru— The gallery’s highest-priced work at €45,000 — brought from Chile and mounted on a wooden structure. “We based the curation around that,” Pascua noted. The work refers to an elegiac poem by Pablo Neruda (“Spain in our hearts”) and also reused repeatedly Robert CapaThe iconic image of a fallen soldier. The Memoria project space was dedicated to Terry Holidaya trans woman in her 70s (twice the life expectancy of a trans woman in Mexico). The project space is “a tribute to her life and the struggles she’s had, but it’s also an ode to the joy she brings… she’s empowering herself and standing up to all those who can’t and can’t, and she’s telling the story of her friends… because she has a voice,” Pascua noted.
Although a new space, Memoria was not part of ARCOmadrid’s new galleries section curated by Rafa Berber AND Anissa Touatiwhich introduced galleries that have been operating for less than eight years. The section included booths from emerging spaces in Athens, Istanbul, Tbilisi, Ljubljana and Cape Town, as well as exo exo gallery from Paris, who was telling The love of grace—who has worked at Casa de Velázquez, a French institution based in Madrid for nearly a century. “In this context, we thought it would be interesting to show their work with this residence in mind,” noted the gallerist. Elisa Rigoulet. It was the first time the French gallery had participated in ARCOmadrid – although they had shown Ash Love at Art Basel Paris in October – and it felt like a successful inclusion. “Sometimes fairs can be slow; this is very dynamic,” Rigoulet said.
An Ash Love piece—an acrylic box filled with compressed Mylar balloons and party powder, as if Arman were a raver—sold on the VIP day for €2,500, as did an oil on linen painting by Yann Stéphane Bisso for €3000. Another new gallery, New York Gratin led by the Madrid-born gallerist Andrea Torrigliashowed the work of a 28-year-old self-taught German artist Max Jahnwho paints self-portraits on copper in a nod to the tradition of the Old Masters. Gratin’s booth, with works ranging from $12,000 to $22,000, was sold on the day of VIPs for European art institutions and collections.
Among the most experienced participants of the fair was Chantal Crusel from Paris. Niklas SvennungCrusel’s son and gallery director, said his mother started coming to ARCOmadrid in 1980. The gallery participates in nine art fairs every year, and Svennung thinks that “ARCO has cultivated a great generosity and it seems to be a very real alternative to other ways of navigating the art fair agenda which we know is very intense. I think ARCO has always managed to be very ambitious, but very humane and friendly at the same time.” He positioned the philosophy of the fair as “people who are also interested in an alternative to the, let’s say, very Anglo-Saxon way of doing art business” and appreciates that “year after year, it seems… very healthy, intellectually”.
The gallery organized a group show, with Henry HallHis work is more accessible at €25,000 and José María Siciliait is the most expensive at 90,000 euros. Sicilia, with whom the gallery has worked for more than 40 years, has a show of light pieces and mirror-adorned folding screens at Madrid’s Palacio de Liria, a large neoclassical private house and estate. There was also work in the cabin from Wolfgang Tillmanscurrently visiting professor at the Beaux-arts de Paris and pieces made in 2025 by Rirkrit Tiravanija, Abraham Cruzvillegas AND Gabriel Orozco.
Based in Madrid and Seville Rafael Ortiz Gallerywhich has participated in the fair since 1986, brought gelatin silver prints from Graciela Iturbide (sold on VIP day), bright gouaches on paper by Equipo 57, geometric and graphic acrylics on canvas by Manuel Barbadillo and mixed wood, metal and lead sculptures Carmen Calvo. The works on the stand ranged from €2,000-€95,000. There was also a special project dedicated to it Curro González because, said the gallerist Rosalía Ortizshowing only “two (works) by one artist makes it really difficult for visitors to understand a career.” González’s paintings on canvas were dense with lines so fine they looked like they were made with a pen, along with unique polychrome ceramics and ink drawings on paper, functioning as a kind of “small exhibition”.
Nächst St. Stephan from Vienna’s stands relied on “minimal and abstract”, noted the gallerist Rosemarie Schwarzwalderanother veteran who has participated since the 1980s and who also served on the ARCOmadrid selection committee for seven years. She said that “this art fair is always a platform (through which) people meet each other. Either you meet artists or collectors or meet friends like that and get to know another culture.” She was telling Katharina Grossewith whom he worked for more than 25 years, with a painting priced at €265,000, as well as a small textile work by Sheila Hicks for €48,000. There were also parts from the Czech Republic Luisa Kasalicky– a “great talent with its very specific language” – and Jongsuk Yoon“A late bloomer… we met maybe when she was a little over 50, but she was very energetic and really wanted to get into this art market.”
All in all, the atmosphere last weekend at the IFEMA conference center was good. As Chantal Crusel’s Svennung said: “It’s a complicated time, but ARCO and an art fair like this is able to offer a sense of community and elevated thinking, exchange and tolerance that is important to have at any price these days.”
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