Culture once again surpasses its record for the acquisition of cultural assets, with an investment of 14 million euros in 2024

'Ecstasy of the Magdalene' by the sculptor Luisa Roldán

The Ministry of Culture has once again broken its record for investment in cultural assets to enrich public collections. In 2024, it invested a total of 14,624,510 euros in acquisitions, 4.7% more than in 2023. This amount, charged to the budgets of the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, includes 4,710,628 of funds from the 2% for Culture earmarked for increasing state collections.

During the past year, the Ministry of Culture made purchases for 35 public cultural institutions: the Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute; 15 state museums managed by the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts, including the new National Photography Centre; eight state museums whose management has been transferred to the autonomous communities, and five state archives and one autonomous community-managed archive, as well as the National Library of Spain, the Prado National Museum, the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Centre, all autonomous bodies of the Ministry of Culture, together with National Heritage and the Lázaro Galdiano Museum Foundation.

In total, more than 250 purchases have been made in which paintings, sculptures, drawings, furniture, clothing, ceramics and photograph albums, as well as documentary and bibliographic collections and contemporary art installations have been acquired for the public collections.

Works for the Prado Museum and the Spanish National Library

The most expensive work acquired by the Ministry of Culture in 2024 was 'Virgen de la Merced con dos frailes mercedarios' by Francisco de Zurbarán, in which 650,000 euros was invested. It is destined for the collections of the Prado National Museum, which this year has also seen an increase in its holdings with 'The Procession of Giants in Brussels on 31 May 1615', by the Brussels painter David Noveliers. The work, acquired for 504,450 euros, is part of a series of eight large canvases, of which only six remain, four of them in this museum. In addition, works by Francisco Rizzi, Pedro de Campaña and Juan de Peralta have been acquired for the art gallery. In total, the investment in the collections of this autonomous body has been 1,800,784 euros.

The National Library of Spain has also benefited from new funds with a budget of 1,243,696 euros. Specifically, the largest investment was for the 'Novus atlas absolutissimus', a set of 17th century maps purchased for 594,000 euros. In addition, in December 2024, the manuscript of 'Nada' and the personal collection of the writer Carmen Laforet were acquired for 305,000 euros. These two acquisitions reinforce the collections of writers' archives held in the National Library of Spain and, in particular, increase the documentary holdings of female creators.

Contemporary creation and female artists

At ARCO 2024, the Ministry of Culture acquired a total of 20 works for the Reina Sofía National Museum Art Centre, 15 of them by female artists. Purchases at this fair, the most important contemporary art fair in Spain, amounted to 401,372 euros.

Also for this museum, last December the Ministry of Culture acquired 'La marquesa de Alquibla' by Ángeles Santos, for 200,000 euros. This work, from the artist's early period, enriches the public collections with a fundamental work within the new realisms of the interwar period in Spain and one of the few examples of the New German Objectivity in the country.

State museums

In 2024, the first purchases have been made for the National Photography Centre, a recently created centre which is expected to open in 2026, once the adaptation work on the Bank of Spain building in Soria has been completed. In this case, it was three photographs by the artist Marisa González, acquired at ARCO for 50,820 euros.

Likewise, 14 of the 16 State Museums managed by the Ministry of Culture have received new acquisitions in 2024, continuing with the line of work of reinforcing their collections and incorporating works signed by female artists. This is the case of the National Sculpture Museum, located in Valladolid, which from this year has two new pieces by the sculptor Luisa Roldán in its collection. These are 'Ecstasy of the Magdalene', acquired for 330,000 euros, and the recently acquired 'Nativity', with the figures of Saint Joseph, the Virgin Mary and the Child and a page boy, worth 350,000 euros. The four pieces complete the 'Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos', a set by the same artist acquired in 2017. These works can be seen until March in the exhibition that the museum is dedicating to the artist: Luisa Roldán. Royal Sculptor'.

The National Museum of Decorative Arts is the state museum that has seen its collection strengthened the most, with more than 162 acquisition files for a total amount of 2,196,994 euros. Among the most outstanding assets are works by the artists Delhy Tejero, acquired for 199,400 euros, and Teresa Lanceta, winner of the National Plastic Arts Prize 2023, for 302,500 euros. Also included are the documentary, graphic, photographic and bibliographic collection of the García-Ramos collection, worth 400,000 euros, and pieces of ceramics from Manises, acquired for 100,000 euros.

For its part, the National Museum of Archaeology (MAN) has seen its collection of Islamic coins enriched thanks to the incorporation of pieces from the Tonegawa collection in different auctions, in which 362,734 euros has been invested, as well as some 13th-15th century panels from the Monastery of Santa Clara de Astudillo (Palencia), bought for 80,000 euros, and a 17th century chest jewel, for 32,000 euros.

The Ministry of Culture, in order to expand and strengthen the collection dedicated to Joaquín Sorolla, on the occasion of the celebration of the centenary of his death, has acquired three new works in 2024 for his house-museum in Madrid: 'Plasencia', acquired for 300,000 euros; 'Portrait of Dr Francisco Rodríguez Sandoval', for 275,000 euros; and 'Garden', for 250,000 euros.

The National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuary Arts 'González Martí', located in Valencia, has added assets to its collections for a total value of 642,600 euros. Highlights include a collection of Spanish ceramics from the 15th-19th centuries, for which 377,600 euros was allocated; two pharmacy jars from Manises, for 85,000 euros; and a panel of 135 tiles from the 18th century, for 30,000 euros.

Among the acquisitions made for the other State Museums are works by contemporary female artists such as those by Irene Grau, acquired for 55,865 euros and destined for the Museo Nacional de Altamira, in Cantabria; by Aurèlia Muñoz, for 100,000 euros, for the Museo del Traje, both acquired at ARCO; or by Sandra Gamarra, with an investment of 154,000 euros, for the Museo Nacional de Antropología and the Museo de América.

Also noteworthy are the archive of Antonio Alvarado, acquired for 280,000 euros for the Museo del Traje; 19th century photographs by Jean Laurent and Alphonse Guiard, among others, for 78,240 euros, for the Museo Nacional del Romanticismo, and various editions of Don Quixote, worth 39,000 euros, for the Museo Casa Cervantes, based in Valladolid.

State museums under regional management

The Ministry of Culture has also made purchases in 2024 for eight state museums under regional management. The Museum of Albacete, the Museum of Avila, the Museum of Burgos, the Museum of Guadalajara, the Museum of Palencia, the Museum of Santa Cruz in Toledo and the Museum of Zamora, have seen their collections increased with different goods acquired by the Ministry of Culture, for a total value of 588,483 euros. As for the Valencia Fine Arts Museum, it was the state museum under transferred management that received the most investment, with the acquisition of a work by Zurbarán, the oil painting 'Santa Faz', for 320,000 euros, and 'San Martín sharing his cloak with a beggar' by the Valencian painter Juan Ribalta, for 90,000 euros.

Documentary and bibliographic heritage

In the acquisition of documentary and bibliographic heritage, the purchase of the archives of the Marquises of Astorga, Altamira, Medina de las Torres, Lajayosa and Monasterio, for a total of 300,000 euros, for the Archivo Histórico de la Nobleza, the state archive of the Ministry of Culture, stands out. For its part, the Historical Memory Documentary Centre has increased its photographic collection with the images of Manuel Díaz Escalona, photographer of the High Commissariat of the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco during the Second Republic, which depict daily life in Tetouan in the early 1930s, purchased for 70,000 euros.

In addition, the archive-library of the Galician writer Fermín Bouza has been acquired for the Provincial Archive of Orense, a state archive whose management has been transferred to the autonomous community, and 150,000 euros have been earmarked for this purpose.

Non official translation