Sònia Hernández, Minister of Culture of the Government of Catalonia, today announced the Department of Culture’s 2025 acquisitions: 46 contemporary artworks by 40 artists, which will enter the Government’s National Collection. The Collection spans contemporary art (from the 1970s onwards), photography, cultural artefacts, comics, illustration, postwar art, and works from the second avant-garde. The acquisitions follow an extensive review of more than 700 applications, assessed by a committee over eleven two-hour meetings.

The 2025 Committee was presided over by Íngrid Llopart, Deputy Director General of Cultural Promotion; Manel Guerrero, a specialist in contemporary art at the Directorate General for Cultural Promotion and Libraries and coordinator of the commission; Marta Gustà, Director of the Visual Arts Area at the Catalan Institute for Cultural Enterprises and coordinator of the commission; Ester Martínez, responsible for support programmes for artistic creation and visual arts; Sònia Blasco, Head of the Museums and Movable Heritage Protection Service; Claudia Segura, Head of Collections at MACBA; Àlex Mitrani, Contemporary Art Curator at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC); Jesús Navarro, Director of Morera – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Lleida and representative of the Network of Art Museums of Catalonia; Gisel Noè, Director of M|A|C Mataró; Manel Margalef, Director of Museu d'Art Modern Tarragona (MAMT) of the Diputació de Tarragona; Frederic Montornés, independent curator, nominated by the CoNCA National Council for Culture and the Arts; Álvaro Hernández, Technical Officer of the Management Service of the Directorate-General for Cultural Promotion and Libraries, acting as secretary. Closing the list, Mariana Cánepa Luna of Latitudes, an expert in contemporary art, proposed by the Plataforma d’Arts Visuals de Catalunya (PAV).

One of the online work sessions.

The 2025 acquisition expenditure was € 983.677,13. The committee approved the acquisition of 46 works by 40 artists – 20 men, 18 women and 2 collectives. More than half of the acquisitions were made through galleries (23), with the remainder acquired directly from the artists or their rightful owners (17).

Evolution of the acquisition budget since 2018.

Works by mid-career artists such as Carles Congost, Pep Agut, Tom Carr, Pep Duran, Begoña Montalbán, Núria Güell and Oriol Vilapuig, amongst others, have been deposited on long-term loan in twelve museums across Catalunya. With the budget increase to 1 million over the last two years, it has been possible to acquire works by established artists such as Antoni Muntadas, Sílvia Gubern, Nazario, Dorothée Selz, Marga Ximénez, Teresa Gancedo, Magda Bolumar and Joan Fontcuberta, to mention a few. Works by younger generations have also been purchased by artists such as Anna Moreno, Paula Artés, Gerard Ortín, Luz Broto, Eva Fàbregas or Agnès Essonti.

Gerard Ortín Castellví​'s “Bliss Point”​ (2023), a 26-minute film, is now on long-term loan to MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona. This completes his food trilogy, which is also deposited in the museum (“Future Foods” (2021) is a long-term loan of the Barcelona City Council; and “Agrilogistics” (2022) was a 2024 purchase by the same Generalitat Committee).

Luz Broto, “Contactar cristales enfrentados” (2023), now long-term loan at the Museu de Granollers.

Nazario, Història de Turandot, (1988-1990) 47 original drawings. Now on long-term loan at the MORERA. Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Lleida.

The meetings for the 2026 edition of the Acquisitions are now underway until the summer, and will be the third and final year that Mariana serves as Advisor. 

→ RELATED CONTENT:

• Mariana Cánepa Luna in the 2024 Acquisition Committee of the Col·lecció Nacional d'Art Contemporani of the Government of Catalunya, 19 Mar 2025
• Panorama traces, a year on, 21 Oct 2022
• Panorama in Madrid and Córdoba, 14 June 2022
• “Panorama 21: Apunts per a un incendi dels ulls”, MACBA, October 2021–February 2022