The Colección Banco Santander contains more than 1,000 works, including pieces by master painters and sculptors such as Zurbarán, Van Dyck, Tintoretto, Rusiñol, Picasso, Tàpies, Barceló and Chillida, an interesting decorative arts department and a numismatic collection exploring the monetary history of the Iberian Peninsula from the 2nd century BC to the present day.

The foundation is responsible for managing, preserving and promoting the collection. In 2020, the periodical review of the pieces in the collection and processing of loan requests from other institutions continued. To promote the Colección Banco Santander, the foundation offers a multimedia tool on its website that features different themed tours of the various works. During lockdown, special tours relating to the events were created, taking the public on a ‘journey’ through some of the works in the collection.

In collaboration with Factum Foundation, an organisation specialising in applying new documentation and digital reproduction technologies to art conservation, work is being carried out to digitalise El Greco’s La Anunciación in 3D. This project will allow one of the most iconic works in the Colección Banco Santander and one of the most representative pieces from the latter part of the artist’s career to be discovered, promoted and preserved. The final product will be a high-quality facsimile that will be hung in the very place for which the painting was intended: the Hospital de Tavera church in Toledo.

Loans

The foundation’s loan policy is intended to share knowledge of art with society by disseminating works from the Colección Banco Santander and supporting projects from other cultural institutions both in Spain and abroad.