More than ten works from the Banco de España Collection are on show this summer in exhibitions at different museums and art venues around Spain: the Helga Alvear Museum in Cáceres, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS) and the Sorolla Museum in Madrid, CaixaForum Valencia; the Centro Niemeyer in Avilés, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA), the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián.

These recent loans exemplify the Banco de España's commitment to making its collection more widely known and energising the artistic and cultural scene in Spain. To that end, the Bank has just set up a programme of temporary exhibitions at its head offices on Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid. The first exhibition staged was 2328 reales de vellón which closed in April. A new exhibition is scheduled for this autumn: watch this space for details soon.

_{View of the hall for the exhibition Patterns by Cristina Iglesias. Helga de Alvear Museum}

We worked with the Helga de Alvear Museum in Cáceres on Patterns (10 June - 25 September 2022) by Cristina Lucas, the last exhibition curated by José María Viñuela, a key figure in the history of the Banco de España art collection, who died suddenly on 10 June last. The exhibition includes all three pieces by the Jaén-born artist held in the Collection: The Treasure Vault. Perspective I (2014) and The Treasure Vault. Perspective II (2014), her two photos of the Bank's gold vault (a reinforced room 35 metres below ground level that houses Spain's gold reserves); and Netherlands Gold, a series of 6 photos that continues the theme of gold vaults, in this case showing that of the Dutch National Bank.

_{View of the venue for the exhibition Néstor Sanmiguel. The Vicissitudes of the Automaton. Reina Sofia National Museum & Art Centre. Palacio Velázquez. Photograph. Joaquín Cortés/Román Lores. Museo Reina Sofía Photo Archive}

For the exhibition Néstor Sanmiguel. The Vicissitudes of the Automaton (3 June - 19 September) organised by the Museo Reina Sofía at its Palacio de Velázquez venue by the Retiro Park in Retiro de Madrid, we have loaned two works: The Painter and the Model (2001) and Self-portrait of Beckmann with dinner jacket in 1927 (2009). Both can be seen as paradigmatic examples of the recent output of this Zaragoza-born artist, who has constructed a form of expression all his own throughout his career, in which he brings together forms from literature and pictorial art. Following a precise method that he applies almost as if reading from an instruction manual, Sanmiguel constructs his works by juxtaposing layers of information. Beatriz Herráez writes that this results in "enigmatic, encrypted paintings" in which grid structures and random chance (or rather 'controlled chance', as Herráez puts it) always play important roles.

_{View of the venue for the exhibition Sorolla in Black. Sorolla Museum}

The recently opened Sorolla in Black exhibition at the Sorolla Museum in Madrid (12 July - 27 November 2022) also features a work on loan from our Collection. The work in question is Portrait of José Echegaray, which Sorolla painted in 1905 after Echegaray was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The painting was commissioned by the Madrid Casino and was acquired by the Banco de España in 1953. It is one of four paintings by Joaquín Sorolla in our collection. The others are Voltaire telling one of his stories (1905), In a tavern in Zarauz (1910) and The old door of Seville Cathedral (1910).

In Sorolla's home city of Valencia, the recently opened CaixaForum venue is showing a collective exhibition under the name Horizons and Limits. Visions of the Landscape (21 June 2022 – 8 January 2023), which includes another piece from the Banco de España Collection: Landscape (Camíantic de Vilanova) (1890) by Ramón Casas i Carbó, a key figure in the renovation of Catalan painting in the late 19th century. Isabel Tejeda writes that this work stands out for its boldness and modernity, not just in terms of its technical execution 'which brings together naturalist formulas with touches of impressionism, but also because it depicts a rural scene that is changing due to progress'.

_{View of the venue for the exhibition Turn upside down inside out. Spain at the São Paulo biennial, showing the work Painting 352 by Luis Feito in the foreground. Niemeyer Centre}

Another joint exhibition, under the title Turn upside down inside out. Spain at the São Paulo Biennial (4 July - 30 December), currently on show at the Niemeyer Centre in Avilés, also features art from our collection. In this case the work in question is Painting 352 (1962) by Madrid-born Luis Feito, who died in 2021. Frederic Montornés explains that this painting 'is characterised by the predominance of the colour red in an eloquent simplification of form with the force of an energetic, lively gesture'. It is a fine example of the 'equilibrium' that his works have shown from the outset of his career.

Like Feito, multi-faceted artist José Herrera from the Canary Isles produces work with a great deal of poetry in it, building up a sort of inner landscape where what is missing is as important as what is there. Watch the Form (10 June - 11 September 2022), the retrospective of his work staged at the TEA (Tenerife Art Space) TEA), includes Untitled (1998-1999), a painted wood sculpture that highlights his exploration of space and the mystery of emptiness. This is not the only work by Herrera in our collection. We also have three small water colours painted on paper that date from the early 1990s.

_{View of the venue for the exhibition Teresa Lanceta. Weaving as Open Source. Museu d'Art Contemporani in Barcelona (MACBA)}

The Banco de España Collection is also involved in the exhibition Teresa Lanceta. Weaving as Open Source (8 April - 11 September 2022) at the Museu d'Art Contemporani in Barcelona (MACBA). The exhibition looks at the career of this Barcelona-born artist from the 1970s to the present day, via a wide selection of her tapestries, canvases, paintings, sketches, writings and videos. This is the largest exhibition of her work staged to date. Our contribution is to loan the work Untitled (1999) which we recently acquired. It is a piece that exemplifies her reflection on and exploration of the limits of geometrical expression and the connections (in the use of repetitive structures and the handling of colour) between traditional textile manufacturing and certain branches of 20th century abstract art .

As reported in an earlier news item, we have also cooperated on the exhibition Jorge Oteiza & Eduardo Chillida. Dialogue in the 1950s and 60s (9 April - 2 October 2022) which was shown first at the Bancaja Foundation in Valencia and has now opened at the San Telmo Museum in San Sebastián. It features Rumour of Limits I (1958), a sculpture by Guipúzcoa-born Eduardo Chillida held in our Collection that clearly shows the influence on his work of Julio González and of Basque craftsmanship, with its hand-forged farming implements.