The Tyranny of Chronos addresses the concept of time, a key theme in art, and some of the myriad ways in which it has been represented. It features a selection of more than fifty works, including tapestries, paintings, sculptures, photographs and clocks. Curated by Yolanda Romero, the bank's chief conservator, the show has also been the setting for the unveiling of the portraits of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia and of the Governor, Pablo Hernández de Cos, a commission entrusted to American photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The latest additions to the Bank's portrait gallery are the first to replace paint with photography, a medium that has marked contemporary visual culture and which is essential to any understanding of portraiture since the mid-19th century.

Leibovitz is behind some of the most iconic images in 20th and 21st century visual culture. Her portraits mark a new departure in a long line of works stretching back to the bank's origins. At the same time, the American photographer follows in the footsteps of illustrious artists such as Goya (some of whose works are also on show), bringing to these commissions a complete freedom and an awareness of the ultimate artistic purpose, enabling her to create images of historical significance.

The exhibition, which will remain open until 29 March 2025, is divided into three areas. Annie Leibovitz's portraits are in the first section, entitled Portraits in the Course of Time, which also contains other portraits from the collection, including Francisco de Goya's Count of Floridablanca and Francisco de Cabarrús; José Gutiérrez de la Vega's 1852 picture of Ramón de Santillán; and the portrait of José Ramón Álvarez-Rendueles painted in 1985 by Madrid artist Isabel Quintanilla (the first woman artist featured in the gallery).

A common attribute of these portraits – including Leibovitz's – is that they all feature a clock. Timepieces combine the artistic and the technological, the representational and the functional. They have played a crucial role in the way time has come to be perceived and represented in Western culture. This is no less true of the Banco de España itself, where clocks have occupied a central place since the institution was first founded in the late eighteenth century by an emerging financial bourgeoisie that considered them a symbol of progress and social distinction.

In addition to the artworks, the show also includes a large selection of historical clocks owned by the bank. Indeed, the genesis of the exhibition project lay in research conducted by the Conservatorial Division into the Banco de España's collection of timepieces, which led to the publication in 2023 of a catalogue entitled Banco de España Collection of Timepieces. The Hours in Numbers Garbed. All the clocks on display are fully functional, which gives the exhibition an added auditory dimension; visitors can hear all the sounds of the clock's movements and striking mechanisms, just as bank employees have for over two centuries.

The clock may be the paradigmatic embodiment of the modern linear conception of time, but there are other contrasting ways in which it can be understood and represented. The other two sections in the I Have No Time and Unclocked Time exhibition, contain a selection of works from the bank's contemporary collection which, in a wide variety of media and from very different approaches, challenge and transgress the hegemonic notion of time personified by the Greek myth of Chronos.

The second section of the I Have No Time exhibition – whose title is taken from a work by Croatian artist Mladen Stilinović, in which the phrase is repeated over and over again – offers a critical reflection on our civilisation's apprehension that we are no longer the owners of our own time. These pieces address themes such as work as a source of alienation, the precarious working conditions of the new creative classes, the blurring of the boundaries between work and life and the relationship between time and money. There are also a number of works that reflect the continued role of the clock, not just as a collector's item or a pictorial motif, in the bank's buildings and workspaces and in its everyday life.

The third and last section, Unclocked Time, most clearly challenges the notion of linear time, so measurable and predictable, that underpins the logic of contemporary production. The pieces in this section explore transgressive and potentially emancipating ways of viewing and experiencing time, such as indigenismo, which calls for the original links between time and natural cycles to be retained, and artistic processes that advocate a culture of deceleration or question the widely-held notion that time is money.

Alongside the exhibition, a catalogue has been published. As well as providing detailed information on all the exhibits, it contains a series of essays exploring some of the issues and problems raised in the show. This catalogue and the exhibition brochure, together with the catalogue Banco de España Collection of Timepieces. The Hours in Numbers Garbed (the genesis of this exhibition project) can be downloaded free from the Publications sections of the website.

The Tyranny of Chronos is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday, from 11 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm to 8 pm. Admission is free. Prior booking is recommended. Guided tours are held on Wednesdays from 6 to 7 pm and Saturdays from 11 am to 12 pm. There is also a special programme of dynamic tours for family groups on Saturdays from 12.15 to 1.15 pm.