Exhibitions and collections
We believe in the power of culture to help us understand our times and make us better, both individually and collectively. That is why we run an exhibition program dedicated to the plastic arts and photography, featuring exhibitions that span the beginnings of modern art to to the mid-20th century, and from the origins of photography to contemporary creation. Developed in collaboration with national and international institutions, these exhibitions are presented in our galleries in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in museums around the world.
This commitment is complemented by the Fundación Mapfre Collections, comprising nearly 2,200 paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs. We preserve and share this artistic heritage to make culture accessible to as many people as possible.
Richard Avedon
Roger Tims, Jim Duncan, Leonard Markley and Don Belak, coal miners, Reliance, Wyoming, August 29, 1979
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
JUNE.06.2026 – AUG.30.2026, MAD
Richard Avedon
In the American West, 1979-1984
Committed to photography from a very young age, Richard Avedon (New York, 1923–San Antonio, Texas, 2004) made his mark in the fashion world, where he worked for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and other magazines, while his photographic projects addressed social and political issues, such as the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.
In the American West is the result of a commission he received from the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Texas: between 1979 and 1984, Avedon traveled throughout the American West to photograph its inhabitants. The result was a portrayal of the region and its people that differed radically from the traditional images that idealized the legend of the American West. The series —one of the major milestones in Avedon’s career— is considered a landmark in the history of photographic portraiture.
Alejandro Cartagena
Suburban Bus #73, from the series Suburban Bus, 2016
Courtesy of the artist
© Alejandro Cartagena
JUNE.06.2026 – AUG.30.2026, MAD
Alejandro Cartagena
Ground Rules
Throughout his productive career, Alejandro Cartagena —born in the Dominican Republic in 1977 and based in Mexico— has developed a body of works that challenges the traditional concept of the “decisive moment,” instead focusing on seriality and the multiplicity of perspectives as the axes of his work. From this standpoint, and always through a critical and humanistic lens, his work addresses many of Mexico’s complex realities: migration, housing, the border with the United States, and urban transformation, among others.
Far from being fragmented, Cartagena’s photography presents a coherent and multifaceted view of contemporary challenges and invites viewers to contemplate them from multiple perspectives.
Minor White
Cape Ann, Massachusetts, from Sequence 1968, December 24, 1966
The Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum, the legacy of Minor White
© Trustees of Princeton University. Photo: Allen Chen
JUNE.18.2026 – SEP.06.2026, BCN
Minor White
A figure of enormous influence in 20th-century American photography, Minor White (Minneapolis, 1908–Boston, 1976) developed his concept of photography across virtually every area of the medium, from creative practice and teaching to editorial and museum work. Founder and editor of the magazine Aperture and a professor at some of the most important educational institutions in the American scene, Minor White used these platforms to convey and share his ideas and to pursue his goal of presenting the photographic image as a space for self-knowledge and spiritual transformation. Organized on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death, this exhibition —the first major retrospective of his work in Europe— offers a comprehensive overview of his oeuvre, featuring his most representative themes (nature photography, portraiture, and street photography), with special attention to his work with sequences.
Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol
Trip to France, May 1955
Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol Photographic Archive / Fundación Photographic Social Vision
© Archivo Fotográfico Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol
JUNE.18.2026 – SEP.06.2026, BCN
Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol
Eloquent Form
Joaquín Tusquets de Cabirol (Barcelona, 1904–1979) grew up in a welltodo family environment that provided him with an education attuned to art and culture, which undoubtedly helped shape his photographic sensibility. A chemist and industrialist by profession, he found in photography a means to express a lucid, aesthetic and profound view of his surroundings. His images, which offer a unique vision of postwar Catalonia, stand out for their evolution from pictorialism toward formal and technical experimentation, while the exceptional quality of his prints is owed to his mastery of chemical developing processes.
The exhibition, organized by Fundación Mapfre in collaboration with the Photographic Social Vision Foundation, the institution that safeguards and preserves the photographer’s archive, forms part of KBr’s ongoing commitment to showcasing photography collections held in Catalan institutions.
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We take our exhibitions and collections to museums and cultural institutions around the world to bring art and culture to new audiences.
A journey through the exhibitions that have defined our commitment to art and photography since 1989.