Helga de Alvear, gallery owner: “I am addicted to art. I will continue buying until the end”

There are few things that Helga de Alvear (87 years old, Kirn/Nahe, Germany) likes less than breaking her daily routine of going to work at her Madrid gallery.

But every effort is acceptable when it comes to receiving her gratitude for her support of contemporary art in Portugal, a country that she frequents and loves for many decades.

This Thursday, the Portuguese Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, staged this gratitude at the Helga de Alvear Museum of Contemporary Art in Cáceres, home of the impressive collection of more than 3,000 works by the patron.

Located in the center of the city, about 300 kilometers from Madrid and 400 from Lisbon, the center has not stopped receiving awards since its opening in 2021. Described by Manuel Borja-Villel, former director of the Reina Sofía, as the museum of contemporary art most important in Europe, last year it had 126,600 visitors to the collection, with free access and with special routes for the disabled and guided circuits for children.

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A walk with Helga de Alvear through her museum

The Portuguese tribute also marks the start of the artistic season with a Portuguese flavor in the life of the museum.

It is the first exhibition presented by the new director, Sandra Guimarães (Porto, 53 years old), a cultural manager who arrives after winning a public competition for which she will remain in office for four years.

This first major exhibition of the year stars Carlos Bunga (Oporto, 48 years old), an artist whom Helga de Alvear had followed for a long time and from whom she acquired three works that form part of the museum's collections.

The anthological exhibition, which opens this Thursday under the title

Performing Nature

(until May 12), is curated by Guimarães and co-organized with the Bombas Gens Center d'Art of Valencia, where a slightly different version could be seen last season.

For Cáceres, Bunga has made two installations in which he mixes all artistic supports and are an invitation to the visiting public to participate and give a new meaning to the works.

“I want us to learn to decolonize nature,” explains the artist, “we are an integral part of it.

“We are not above.”

The Portuguese artist Carlos Bunga walks with the director of the Helga de Alvear Museum of Contemporary Art in Cáceres, Sandra Guimarães, through the exhibition 'Performing nature'.

Joaquin Cortes

Helga de Alvear arrived at the museum on Wednesday afternoon.

Tired from the trip from Madrid (about three hours by car), she had time to meet some of the people who have collaborated most in making the creation of this museum possible.

The absence that hurts her the most is that of her great friend José María Viñuela, who died in June 2022 when she was going to inaugurate an exhibition in the museum dedicated to Cristina Lucas.

With the collector was her brother, Hans Jakob, 80 years old, who since he retired decided to settle in Porto.

“But that doesn't mean we see each other more,” De Alvear told EL PAÍS in an interview held in her Madrid gallery.

“I get tired of traveling and the same thing must happen to him, although I have to say that he has always supported me.”

Minister Pedro Adão e Silva presented Alvear with a medal with which he thanked the collector for the attention that she has always shown towards Portuguese artists.

From Helena de Almeida to Ângela Ferreira or Bruno Zhu, among more than 40 names.

The majority of the more than 3,000 works in the collection are headed by Spanish, German and Portuguese creators.

De Alvear, who has numerous awards in Spain and in her country of origin, does not believe she has special merits to be awarded because she has always bought the works that she likes and so she will continue doing so as long as she can.

As she has said several times, she is “art addict.”

Ernest Urtasun, Minister of Culture of Spain, was present at the ceremony, along with Rodríguez Ibarra, the person who made the museum's existence possible along with numerous Portuguese and Spanish artists and cultural managers.

The collector talks about her family origins to explain how she has been able to acquire a collection full of masterpieces by the most sought-after contemporary artists.

In addition to the sense of smell, intuition and knowledge that she acquired during the years she worked with Juana Mordó, De Alvear recognizes that you have to have plenty of money and she has had it thanks to the family business RKW, one of the world leaders in the

film

sector. plastic for packaging, of which it is co-owner.

The years have not at all dulled the strength of Helga de Alvear's character.

She says that her decision to bequeath her entire collection to a large museum was made about 20 years ago and was celebrated by her husband, the architect Jaime de Alvear, and her three daughters (María, Ana and Patricia).

Oddly enough, he did not find much enthusiasm for the gift of his collection.

She offered it to Madrid, Córdoba (her husband's birthplace), Vigo, San Sebastián and Granada.

“My only condition was that we build a new building, I didn't want a renovated old palace,” she says.

By chance, she met Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra (former socialist president of Extremadura) at the Atrio restaurant in Cáceres.

She went with José María Viñuela, of Extremaduran origin, well known to Ibarra and then director of the art collection of the Bank of Spain.

The proposal came together and after many difficulties the museum opened its doors in February 2021.

Every time there is an inauguration, Helga de Alvear goes to the museum, but she no longer goes with the same enthusiasm with which she went when José María Viñuelas lived.

In a broken voice, she says that she was not in Cáceres the day her friend suffered a stroke because she stayed in Madrid recovering from Covid.

“He insisted that I not leave the house because the virus had hit me hard.

We talked in the morning and after a while she died,” she explains.

She recognizes that it has affected her greatly because she and José María traveled to fairs and biennials (Venice, Basel and Arco), to music festivals and opera concerts.

Helga says that she rarely goes out now.

Every day, mid-morning, she is in her gallery.

She attends psychotherapies that help her keep a clear head and once a week she visits her chiropractor.

She has grandchildren and great-grandchildren and she admits that her two youngest ones are a lot of fun for her.

“I plan to be in Arco and continue with my artists in the gallery, even if no one comes to see the works because, let's not fool ourselves, nothing is sold here.”

“When I die, all the works belong to Cáceres”

Helga de Alvear has never liked the social life that flows around the art world.

She has good relationships with gallery owners, but not great friendships.

She is sad that Juana de Aizpuru, Elvira González or Soledad Lorenzo are retiring, but she assures that she will continue working until the last moment.

“When she dies, it will be known that all of her works belong to Cáceres.

Those that are unsold in the gallery will be returned to the artists.

All the paperwork is taken care of.

There will be no surprises.”

Within that calm life, there have only been a couple of recent things that have lit his spirits lately.

One is the dismissal of Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes as head of the CAAC of Seville by the Andalusian Junta and the appointment without competition of Jimena Blázquez.

“There are few people as qualified as Álvarez Reyes,” Helga laments.

“He had one year left to finish his term and they fired him with 24 hours to vacate the office.

“It is inconceivable and disrespectful to culture.”

The other issue that upsets the gallery owner's mood has to do with Borja-Villel's departure from the Reina Sofía.

“There was a smear campaign inappropriate for a serious and democratic press.

He is the best director the museum has ever had and I am very sorry that he had to leave that way.”

Helga de Alvear is bothered by the political tension because she clearly remembers the war years in Germany.

A social democrat by conviction, she advises politicians to increase her interest in education, “because culture is essential for the advancement of people.”

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