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European RoyalsSpain

Spain’s King and Queen open international contemporary art fair – ARCOmadrid

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia viewed some cutting-edge works of art Thursday when they visited ARCOmadrid at IFEMA – Feria de Madrid.

The international contemporary art fair is viewed as one of the premier art fairs on the international circuit and is held each February in Madrid. ARCOmadrid, which started 26 February and will run through 1 March, includes a “careful selection of national and international galleries” and the King and Queen toured a number of them Thursday.

Upon arriving, the royal couple joined the president of the Executive Committee of IFEMA, Clemente González Soler, along with the mayor of Madrid and a number of other national and local authorities who toured the exhibit with them.

According to Casa Real, “The tour included the spaces of El País, “It’s just a matter of time”, Timothy Taylor, Perrotin (French gallery), Hauser & Wirth, Helga de Alvear (Madrid gallery), Luisa Strina (Brazilian gallery), Mira Madrid (Valencian gallery which has just opened space in Madrid), Joan Prats (Catalan gallery), Juana de Aizpuru (Madrid gallery), Massimo Minini and Francesca Minini (Italian galleries), the Opening Zone and the ABC and El Mundo newspaper spaces.”

King Felipe and Queen Letizia together with the authorities that accompanied them during their visit to ARCOmadrid. © Casa de SM el Rey

The fair, which receives more than 1000,000 visitors, includes 209 galleries from 30-plus countries, and Spain’s presence is growing.

This year, the participation of Spanish galleries has registered a slight increase to include a total of 70, Casa Real announced, which represents 33 per cent of the total at ARCOmadrid.

In this group, galleries from places outside of Spain’s major cities “allow broadening the perspective and knowing interesting proposals from other parts of the country.”

The central theme for the 2020 fair is “It’s Just a Matter of Time,” and the king and queen learned about the various works on display and how they fit into this concept.

About author

Kristin was Chief Reporter for Royal Central until 2022 and has been following the British royal family for more than 30 years. Kristin has appeared in UK and U.S. media outlets discussing the British royals including BBC Breakfast, BBC World News, Sky News, the Associated Press, TIME, The Washington Post, and many others.