Banco Santander has announced it will manage roughly half of the Gelman Collection, one of the most significant collections of 20th-century Mexican art, which disappeared from public view in 2008. The Madrid-based bank now oversees 160 of approximately 300 works amassed by patrons Jacques and Natasha Gelman. The collection will anchor the new Faro Santander cultural center in Spain, set to open in June, through a long-term loan agreement with the Zambrano family, the prominent Mexican business family revealed to own the once-lost collection. The collection's whereabouts had been largely unknown, with only sporadic sightings in foreign institutions, after it was divided by executor Robert R. Littman despite the will's stipulation that it be shown intact in a private museum in Mexico.
The announcement matters because it raises significant questions about the preservation and public access to nationally important cultural heritage. Many works in the collection—including pieces by José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Frida Kahlo—are protected under Mexican law with Declaration of Artistic Monument status and typically granted only temporary export licenses. The Zambrano family's private ownership has sparked controversy in Mexico over whether such a collection should remain in private hands. The Santander Foundation's plan to house the collection in Spain, with the possibility of extending export licenses through dialogue with Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, highlights ongoing tensions between private ownership, national patrimony, and international cultural exchange.