Acquisitions and awards at ARCOmadrid 2026

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Once again, the Ministry of Culture and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía have strengthened the museum’s collections with the acquisition of new works from ARCOmadrid 2026. In this edition, the ministry has invested 402,760 euros in the purchase of 17 works by 14 artists, nine of them women, representing 64% in total: Annette Messager, Claudia Andujar, La Ribot, Ester Chacón, Pere Noguera, Oriol Vilanova, Kapwani Kiwanga, Venuca Evanán, Ángel Bados, Amparo de la Sota, Joan Gelabert, Ana Laura Aláez, María Alcaide and Roberto Jacoby. 

Among the institutional and corporate purchases confirmed for this edition are those of the ARCO Foundation, which has expanded its Collection with the acquisition of 7 works paid for with the proceeds from the ARCO Foundation Dinner, held on Tuesday 3 March. The works acquired, with the advice of Tania Pardo, director of the CA2M Museum, and Joanna Zielinska, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp (M HKA), correspond to Abraham Cruzvillegas -Chantal Crousel-, Lia D Castro -Martins & Montero-, Katinka Bock -Meyer Riegger- and Janis Rafa -Callirrhoë-. In addition to these are works by Ana Laura Aláez -The Ryder-, acquired with the support of the International Council of the ARCO Foundation, by Amparo de la Sota -Galería Alegría-, donated by Frédéric Malle, and Sheida Soleimani -Harlan Levey Projects-, from Club Matador.

Meanwhile, the Community of Madrid has awarded its ARCO 2026 Prize to the artists Los Bravú, Federico Miró and LUCE. The selected works were respectively: the painting En la grieta brilla el deseo (2025), from the gallery El Apartamento; the screen with pictorial intervention Sin título (2026), from F2 Galería, and the photographs Toldo Cruces Almería (2024), from the gallery 1Mira Madrid. All of them will be incorporated into the collection of the Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in Móstoles.

The Madrid City Council has acquired four works at the Fair, for more than €71,100, which will become part of the collection of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC) in Madrid. Among the acquired works are Ritmo del mundo (1984) by the Madrid born artist Patricia Gadea; the sculpture Hemos traído al mundo a todo el mundo.  Y jamás mejor dicho (2002), by Elena Blasco, the installation Old Master (Cézanne) (2017), by the Catalan Oriol Vilanova, and Wayward (2022), by the Madrid-based artist Daniel Canogar.

 In the case of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the 45% increase in the acquisitions budget has made it possible to purchase eleven works through nine galleries, which will join the public collections of the CAAC and C3A. With an investment of €145,134 euros, the selection brings together works by Victoria Gil, Christian Lagata, Julia Llerena, Regina de Miguel, Cristina Mejías, Julia Santa Olalla, Fernando Clemente, Natalia Domínguez and María Alcaide. The works have been acquired through the galleries: Alarcón Criado, Rafael Ortiz, Àngels Barcelona, ArtNueve, Formato Cómodo, House of Chappaz, Maisterra, Sabrina Amrani and T20.

The Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) has strengthened the museum’s collection with the acquisition of around thirty works from ARCOmadrid 2026. The total value of the works joining the IVAM collection amounts to €555,000, corresponding to 30 works by 23 artists, 19 of them women. These include historical references and key figures of Spanish art such as Lola Bosshard, Ana Peters, Esther Boix i Pons, Patricia Gadea, Isabel Villar, Elena Blasco, Eva Lootz, Francis (Pitti) Bartolozzi Sánchez, Nils-Udo and Juan del Junco. They are joined by acquisitions of works by Luciana Novo, Sandra Monterroso, Ana Teresa Barboza, Marinella Senatore, Tania Candiani, Cristina Mejías, Marina González Guerreiro and Noemí Iglesias Barrios. Also included are Valencian artists such as Laura Palau, Lara Ordóñez, Alex Francés, Javier Garcerá and Inma Femenía.    

Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani de Palma has incorporated five works acquired at ARCO by the artists Damaris Pan -Fermay gallery-, Fermín Jiménez Landa -Florit/Florit-, Valeria Maculan -Jorge López gallery-, Belén Rodríguez -Alarcón Criado- and Ana Laura Aláez –Pelaires-.

The Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson has acquired fourteen works by artists including Alicia Martín and Susana Solano -Rafael Pérez Hernando-, Esther Chacón Ávila -José de la Mano-, Amparo de la Sota - Galería Alegría-, Belén Rodríguez - Alarcón Criado-, Sonia Navarro - Galería T20-, Darío Villalba - Leandro Navarro-, Esther Ferrer and Enrique Aznar - Guillermo de Osma-, Teresa Lanceta and Teresa Lanceta -1 Mira Madrid-, Nuno Nunes Ferreira -Juan Silió- and Eduardo Chillida –Mayoral-.

In the case of the Sorigué Foundation, and with the participation of its workers in the selection of the pieces, works by Adolfo Bimer - ATM gallery, Lucía C. Pino -PratsNoguerasBlanchard-, Juan Asensio -Artnueve-, Leo Burge, David Martínez Suárez and Diego Paonessa -ethall gallery- and Miguel Rothschild -Jorge López.

The María José Jove Foundation Art Centre has purchased works by the artists Miguel Marina -Nordés-, Irma Álvarez-Laviana -Luis Adelantado-, and Damaris Pan-Fermay.

Alongside these acquisitions, various national and international institutions and companies support and recognise artistic creation at ARCOmadrid through the sponsorship of art prizes.

For this edition, the gallery Proyectos Ultravioleta has received the Lexus Award for Best Stand and Artistic Content at ARCOmadrid 2026..

The XXI NEWARTaward@ARCO, in collaboration with the Arts Connection Foundation, was awarded to Avi Loeb, by artist Julia Scher, represented by the Esther Schipper gallery; and to the work titled Movement by Jonas Englert, at the Anita Beckers gallery.

Meanwhile, the Valladolid born artist Esther Gatón has been awarded the 10th Cervezas Alhambra de Arte Emerging Award, for her project Lazos y Calles. 

June Crespo, from the Ehrhardt Florez gallery, has received the award in the first edition of the Catapulta Acquisition Award, organised in collaboration with the National Gallery of Canada.

The first edition of the Engel & Völkers Award. Profiles | Latin American Art has been awarded to the Commonwealth and Council+Patron gallery.

Also, the 2nd Young Talent Award Opening. New galleries, with the collaboration of the Fundación Banco Sabadell, recognising artists Julia Padilla, represented by gallery Linse, and Venuca Evanán, from the gallery Enhorabuena Espacio.

The 12th Opening. New Galleries Award went to the Senegalese gallery Selebe Yoon, with projects by artists Alioune Diouf and Fatim Soumaré. Likewise, the Catalan gallery, Spiritvessel, received a special mention for the quality of Víctor Jaenada's project.

Artist Luis Gordillo, represented by the Prats Nogueras Blanchard gallery, has been awarded the 3rd ENATE-ARCOmadrid 2026 Award. His work can be found in the Guest Lounge and will become part of the ENATE collection.

The Pilar Forcada ART Situacions Prize - ARCOmadrid 2026, has been awarded to the artist Cristina Lucas, represented by the gallery Albarrán Bourdais for the work D.A.N.C.E. (Dynamic Algorithm, Neural Creative Evolution) 3.

The 9th Catalina d'Anglade Award went to the work Compasso by Portuguese artist Dalila Gonçalves, of the Mais Silva gallery.

The Catalan artist Lola Lasurt, represented by the gallery Prats Nogueras Blanchard, has received the Acquisition Award from the Fundació Vila Casas.

On this occasion, the Emerige-CPGA Award has been given to the artist Sofía Salazar Rosales, from the ChertLüdde gallery.

The 2nd Juana de Aizpuru Award has been awarded to the Elvira González Gallery in recognition of its historic trajectory and its commitment to the fair.