The Brazilians Ricardo and Susana Steinbruch, who in September were granted the Spanish nationality and live in our country, have amassed one of the most important collections of contemporary art in Latin America, with a thousand works. Its strong points are Brazilian art and that of Central and Eastern Europe, although Spanish is not lacking, with names like Tàpies. The first piece they acquired was one by Sergio Prego, in 2004. The ARCO Foundation awarded them one of its collecting prizes. Since the creation of the Reina Sofía Museum Foundation, they have been very active patrons. There are 55 works from the Steinbruch Collection in it (36 on deposit and 19 on loan) and patrons have donated seven pieces to the museum, to which one more must now be added, by Mira Schendel.
In addition, until March 13, 2023, a hundred works from this collection (10% of the total) are exhibited for the first time in the exhibition ‘An act of seeing that unfolds’, curated by Manuel Borja-Villel, with the collaboration of Beatriz Martínez Hijazo. The director of the museum comments that “showing a private collection in a public museum is important when that private collection makes sense.” This, he says, is the case with these works, which have “an intimate and personal scale.”
One of the exhibition halls of the Steinbruch Collection at the Reina Sofía
The Brazilian artist opens the exhibition Fernanda Gomes, present yesterday at the museum and who has installed his pieces in the first room. “For me it is a great responsibility. Art is not made without seeing art, it would not be art without museums. And this is one of my favorites », she comments. The exhibition closes with a monographic space dedicated to Mira Schendel. . . . The tour does not lack political and social pieces (Cildo Meireles, Regina Silveira), which address decolonization (Jonathas de Andrade and Anna Maria Maiolino), the body and sexuality… Artists of the stature of Lygia Clark, Helio are present Oiticica, Willys de Castro, Lygia Pape, Tunga, Waltercio Caldas, Artur Barrio (Velazquez award, hangs his famous ‘Book of Meat’), Marcel Broodthaers…
Ricardo Quarry He is president of Vicunha Textil (Sao Paulo), one of the most important companies in the sector worldwide. «Art brings people closer together and we feel very close to Spain, where we live. We share with Manolo [Borja-Villel] his vision of art. The Reina Sofía is a house for us », she says. his wife, Susana Leirner, belongs to a family of patrons and artists: «I cannot live without art, it is in my blood. My maternal grandfather was one of the founders of the Sao Paulo Biennial, I have artist cousins and my mentor was my uncle, Adolfo Leirner. We did not plan to form a collection, it was done little by little. But it gives a lot of work and is a great responsibility with the artists». Regarding where it will go in the future, he warns that “they have been thinking about it for two years, but it is not yet clear. We have three children. At the moment, we make long-term loans. The more people have access to art, the better.”