SANTANDER.- Faro Santander, the new cultural project promoted by the Banco Santander Foundation, opens with an ambitious inaugural exhibitions programme in an evolving cultural hub in Santander, northern Spain. The public opening of Faro Santander completes the revitalisation of one of the most iconic landmarks on Santander’s seafront: the historic Pereda Building, former headquarters of Banco Santander.

The transformation of the Pereda Building—a protected cultural heritage asset—has been led by David Chipperfield Architects. Faro Santander’s renovated interior offers more than 10,000 m² of usable floor space across ten levels, of which some 3,000 m² is set aside for galleries spread over five floors. The top two levels are given over to the café-terrace and the restaurant, while three basement levels house an auditorium and building services.

The inaugural exhibition programme includes three exhibitions: Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection, which spans almost five centuries of art history, from the Renaissance to contemporary art, including works by renowned masters such as Titian, Rubens, el Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, Miró, Tàpies, Soledad Sevilla and Juan Uslé; Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection, featuring works by key figures in modern Mexican art history, including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Orozco, Siqueiros y Gunther Gerzso; and The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington, a touring show which explores Carrington’s artistic journey during her time at a psychiatric sanatorium in Santander.

The history of art, told through selected masterpieces

Faro Santander will dedicate an entire floor to the Banco Santander Collection, a relatively unknown treasure trove of artworks accumulated over 160 years, which will feature permanently through changing exhibitions. Curated by María Dolores Jiménez-Blanco for the inaugural programme, Masterpieces from the Banco Santander Collection, will bring together many of the leading names in art history in a journey that traces a previously untold narrative spanning almost five centuries of art history, from the panel painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553) The Preaching of St John the Baptist (1537–1540), to the painting Soñé que revelabas (Sutlej-Indo) (I Dreamt You Were Revealing) by Juan Uslé (1954).





Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection

Following the success of Relatos Modernos. Obras Emblemáticas de la Colección Gelman Santander at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, a new presentation of the collection will open at Faro Santander on 8 September and will remain on view until 10 January 2027.

Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection, curated by Marisol Argüelles, director of the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, brings together extraordinary works of historical and cultural significance by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Gunther Gerzso and Francisco Toledo, alongside an outstanding body of photography.

Leonora Carrington in Santander

In addition to these two major exhibitions, The Symptomatic Surreal: Leonora Carrington is the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to the artistic work produced by the painter, writer and visionary Leonora Carrington during her stay at Dr Morales’ sanatorium in Santander during World War II.

Curated by Vanessa Boni and first staged at the Freud Museum in London, the touring exhibition marks the public unveiling in Santander of the newly discovered oil on canvas Villa Pilar, which the artist dedicated to and gifted to her doctor upon leaving the sanatorium. The painting had remained hidden for decades and is now being exhibited following its discovery by the Faro Santander research team.

Faro Santander also opens its doors with a public programme that invites audiences to create, participate, learn and experiment. It brings together immersive experiences, creative activities, collaborative projects, talks, film, music and performance. The programme is structured around four areas of focus which come to life across different spaces within Faro Santander: Cubo is dedicated to art and technology; Llamita to education, play and creative experimentation; Marisma to participatory projects connected to Cantabria’s cultural community; and Public Programmes including talks, film screenings, concerts and cross artform performances.