Madrid Opens as One: Pablo Flórez and Eva Albarrán on Apertura 2026

Madrid’s gallery season opened yesterday across the city. Over four days, 60 galleries present new exhibitions throughout Centro, Salesas, Lavapiés, Chamberí, Salamanca, and Carabanchel for the 17th edition of Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend, which runs through September 13.

Organized by Arte Madrid, the Association of Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries of Madrid, Apertura has marked the beginning of the season since 2009. The association brings the galleries together and develops a public program around their openings, including guided routes between neighbourhoods. Each gallery retains its own identity, program, and curatorial direction.

The geography of Apertura reflects the growth of Madrid’s gallery scene. Established districts now sit alongside a new generation of spaces in Lavapiés, Chamberí, and Carabanchel, allowing visitors to discover different parts of the city through art. The journey between galleries has become part of the weekend itself.

This expansion has strengthened Madrid’s international presence and its connections with Europe and Latin America. The question now is how to support that growth over the longer term. Among Arte Madrid’s current priorities is cultural VAT, which Eva Albarrán argues places Spanish galleries at a competitive disadvantage within Europe.

Whitewall spoke with Arte Madrid President Pablo Flórez, of Ehrhardt Flórez, and Vice-President Eva Albarrán, co-founder of Albarrán Bourdais. For Apertura, Ehrhardt Flórez is opening David Bestué’s gran ojo, while Albarrán Bourdais is presenting Simón Vega alongside a special project by Carlos Amorales.

Madrid’s Gallery Scene Comes Together

WHITEWALL: Apertura began in 2009 with the idea of Madrid’s galleries opening the season together. Seventeen editions later, it brings together 60 galleries across the city. How has the purpose of Apertura evolved, and what do you want it to represent today?

PABLO FLÓREZ: We want to reflect a new sense of dynamism that is unique to the city of Madrid. But we don’t just want to reflect it; we also want to be a driving force behind an artistic ecosystem that is growing increasingly strong in our city, and in which art galleries have played a fundamental role.

“We want to reflect a new sense of dynamism that is unique to the city of Madrid.”

Pablo Flórez

EVA ALBARRÁN: Apertura marks the beginning of the art season. It is a very important moment when we collectively make a great effort to reveal Madrid’s vibrant and welcoming contemporary art scene. The original spirit remains the same: to celebrate art together.

WW: Those 60 galleries have very different histories, programmes and audiences. What does it actually take to bring them together as one city-wide event while preserving the independence and identity of each gallery?

PF: As you rightly point out, the independence and identity of each gallery are very personal hallmarks of each one. It is very interesting to see how a gallery circuit and a network of galleries in a city are shaped by the succession of these multiple, diverse, and personal proposals. The Galleries Association does not seek to establish a common thread, but rather to provide structure and meaning to what is happening in the city in relation to contemporary art.

EA: Diversity is precisely what makes Madrid’s art scene so interesting. Apertura provides the shared platform, visibility, and sense of community, but each gallery remains completely independent in terms of its program and curatorial vision.

WW: Unlike an art fair, Apertura has no single venue: experiencing it means moving through Madrid itself, from Centro and Salesas to Lavapiés, Chamberí, Salamanca and Carabanchel. How important is the geography of the city to Apertura, and what does that changing map tell us about Madrid’s gallery scene today?

PF: The city is growing, and with it, art galleries are emerging in different parts of the city. Sometimes they are a reflection of this movement, while at other times it has been the galleries themselves that have contributed to the revitalization of certain areas of the city. Madrid has always been quite a centralized city, but now we are discovering that each area has its own identity, which gives galleries and their respective spaces a different character depending on the neighbourhood. It is very interesting that, in a city like Madrid, which, although it is a capital, is still a manageable size that makes it easy to get around, different cultural offerings are emerging that encourage people to experience the city in a different way. Apertura contributes to this through organized and guided routes that introduce people to new galleries and new areas of the city.

EA: Indeed, moving from one gallery to another means discovering different neighbourhoods, streets, and communities, and seeing how contemporary art is integrated into the life of Madrid. The changing map of the galleries also reflects how much the city’s art scene has evolved. Madrid is no longer defined by a single gallery district. New spaces and different generations of galleries have emerged in areas such as Lavapiés, Chamberí, and Carabanchel, alongside more established areas like Salamanca, Centro, and Salesas. That diversity is very important to us. The city becomes part of the experience, and the galleries are not isolated destinations but part of a wider cultural ecosystem.

WW: Madrid is attracting increasing international attention, but cultural momentum does not always create a sustainable art ecosystem. What still needs to develop for Madrid’s current moment to become lasting—and where would you like the city’s gallery ecosystem to be five years from now?

PF: I very much agree with what you are saying. I believe that the work of Arte Madrid and Apertura is very much a long-term effort, and we have seen the fruits of that work over the past few years. The fact that Madrid is receiving increasing international attention is not a coincidence, and I hope it is not just a passing trend, because it is the result of serious and rigorous work on the part of the galleries. I sincerely believe that there is a sustainable ecosystem that is nourished by artists and programmes focused both on established international art and on more emerging proposals. In five years, I see Madrid becoming a major hub for the art world, because our ecosystem has so many genuine and distinctive things to offer, things that are different from a more Europeanized perspective.

EA: Madrid has a very consolidated art scene with a strong and confident identity of its own. New international and younger galleries have emerged in the last six years, proving the city’s vitality. But I would say that we still need long-term public support for artists and galleries to accompany this growth. One of our main priorities at the moment is addressing cultural VAT, as we have one of the highest VAT rates in Europe, which puts us at a competitive disadvantage.

Pablo Flórez: The Collective and the Historical View

WW: As President of Arte Madrid, you are representing the collective interests of 60 galleries while also participating in Apertura through Ehrhardt Flórez, where you are opening David Bestué’s gran ojo. How does being both an association president and a participating gallerist shape the way you think about the collective project?

PF: I have always believed in the importance of the common good and the collective. I am very proud to represent and speak for so many brilliant galleries. I learn a great deal from each and every one of them, and many of them are personal references for me as well. My work as a gallerist has always involved building relationships with my colleagues, and this is something that is now taking shape through the association.

“I have always believed in the importance of the common good and the collective.”

Pablo Flórez

As for our exhibition, I am very happy with it because it is David Bestué’s first exhibition at the gallery, and he is an essential figure for understanding the new generation of Spanish sculpture.

WW: Ehrhardt Flórez continues a gallery history in Madrid that reaches back to Heinrich Ehrhardt’s original space in 1980. From that longer perspective, what feels fundamentally different about Madrid’s gallery landscape today—and what change has been most consequential for galleries themselves?

PF: In 1980, Spain had just emerged from a long and dark dictatorship. The situation was completely different. Heinrich Ehrhardt was a pioneer and, in many ways, someone who brought the modernity of international artistic practices to our city. The gallery landscape has changed enormously, but it is also worth remembering that, although there were fewer galleries in Madrid in those early years of the 1980s, the few that did exist presented truly extraordinary exhibitions. Even though times have changed, we must not forget those pioneers.

Eva Albarrán: Madrid, Paris, and Latin America

WW: Your career gives you a unique comparative perspective: you have worked between Madrid and Paris, developed Eva Albarrán & Co in Paris, and later founded Albarrán Bourdais in Madrid. From that perspective, what has changed most significantly in Madrid’s cultural infrastructure, and where does the city still have further to go?

EA: I think Madrid doesn’t feel like a scene that has reached its peak; the scene is growing and changing with great energy. Museums, galleries, foundations, collectors, and artists are increasingly connected, and there is a genuine desire to create a dialogue beyond Spain.

WW: Albarrán Bourdais has deliberately built connections between Spain, France and Latin America, and this Apertura you are presenting Simón Vega alongside a special project by Carlos Amorales. How do you see Madrid’s role evolving between the European and Latin American art worlds, and what would meaningful, reciprocal exchange between the two look like?

EA: Madrid has a unique position between Europe and Latin America. The proximity feels very organic and natural, and allows a real conversation between the cultures, fostering lasting relationships between artists, institutions, and audiences.

Presenting Simón Vega alongside a special project by Carlos Amorales during Apertura feels very natural to us. Both proposals allow us to open a conversation about identity, place, power, and the way we perceive the world.