Modern Mexico in the Gelman Santander Collection

In the early 1920s, Mexico witnessed the emergence of a movement whose patriotic foundations had already been laid by the Mexican Revolution. At the same time, contact with Mexican artists and intellectuals who had temporarily moved abroad and discovered movements that made a radical break with the past, and the proximity of the United States and its burgeoning, bustling cities added a modernising impulse. Mexican avant-garde art was therefore the product of two seemingly contradictory tendencies: a willingness to embrace international creative idioms, and a desire to construct a national identity rooted in the pre-Columbian past and folk arts.

It was in this context, amid the ferment of post-revolutionary Mexico, that Jacques Gelman met Natasha Zahalka. Jacques came from a Russian family, while Natasha was born in what is now the Czech Republic. A visionary film producer, Jacques made his fortune by producing many of the biggest films featuring Mario Moreno in the iconic role of Cantinflas, a wily, working-class, urban underdog with a brilliant gift for parody, dubbed the “Charlie Chaplin of Mexico”. For this European immigrant couple, collecting paintings that captured the “essence of Mexico” was a means of gaining access to elite intellectual circles in their new home. Guided by Natasha’s keen instincts, the Gelmans acquired works by established names, but they also foresaw the success of artists whose career paths diverged from a male-dominated circuit, such as Frida Kahlo and María Izquierdo, the two women whose art they collected.

The Gelman Collection, which contained ninety-six pieces at the time of Natasha’s death in 1998 (Jacques had passed away in 1986), was shaped by some of the leading artists of their time, but also by the couple’s personal connections and friendships.

The exhibition, curated by Marisol Argüelles, proposes two parallel interpretations of this collection’s history: the evolution of an aesthetic that gave Mexican art a distinctive identity, and the more personal story of the Gelmans’ passion for collecting.

Frida Kahlo, one of the leading figures

One of the exhibition's main highlights is the exceptional group of works dedicated to Frida Kahlo, who occupies a central place within the Gelman Santander Collection.

The exhibition features 18 works, including paintings, drawings and prints, tracing the full evolution of the artist's career. Among them are some of her most internationally recognised self-portraits, including Diego on My Mind and Self-Portrait with Monkeys, works that reflect the intimate and symbolic dimension that defines her artistic practice. 

Together, these works offer a unique opportunity to experience first-hand the legacy of one of the most influential figures in the history of Mexican art.

Iconic works of modern Mexican art

Alongside the works by Frida Kahlo, the exhibition brings together some of the most emblematic pieces from the Gelman Santander Exhibition.

Highlights include Portrait of Natasha Gelman and The Flower Vendor (Calla Lilies) by Diego Rivera, both fundamental to the origins of the collection; Portrait of Cantinflas by Rufino Tamayo, reflecting Jacques Gelman's relationship with one of Mexico's greatest film icons; as well as works by María Izquierdo, Gunther Gerzso, Wolfgang Paalen and Francisco Toledo, whose watercolour Dog with Broom was among Natasha Gelman's final acquisitions.

Together, these works reveal the diversity of styles that shaped modern art in Mexico, from muralism to the more personal artistic expressions that emerged during the second half of the twentieth century.

Curated by Marisol Argüelles, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico, the exhibition presents a broad perspective on Mexican modernity through paintings, drawings, prints and an outstanding selection of photographs by artists such as Lola Álvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Gabriel Figueroa.