The BMW Painting Prize, with forty years of experience, has broken its historical participation record, with 1,904 applications presented between the categories of Painting (1,689) and Digital Art (215).
After a rigorous selection process, the jury has selected the 12 finalist works, of which 8 will compete for the BMW Painting Prize and 4 for the BMW Digital Art Prize.
In the painting category the finalists are: José Ramón Amondarain Ubarrechena from San Sebastián; Taxio Ardanaz Ruiz, Pamplona; Igor Arrieta Varela from Hondarribia, Guipúzcoa; Marta Beltrán Ferrer from Granada; Cristina Mejías Gómez, Jerez de la Frontera; Simón Sepúlveda Braithwaite, Chile; Amaya Suberviola, Mendavia, Navarra and An Wei Lu Li from Madrid.
Antonio López with the finalist works for the BMW Prize.
The international scope of the award has also been reinforced, which this year has received works by artists of 38 different nationalities, with a notable representation of Latin American countries.
Furthermore, this edition stands out for a growing female presencewith 848 applications (44.5% of the total), exceeding last year’s numbers.
This year’s jury is made up of Antonio López, painter, sculptor and draftsman; Miguel Zugaza, director of the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao; Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, founder and president of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo; Guillermo Solana, artistic director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and Lucía Casani, director of the Carasso Foundation.
As part of the 40th anniversary of the Prize, a meeting was held at the Club Matador to bring together figures of contemporary painting from different fields.
An event in which Sonia Navarro, BMW Painting Prize 2023, and Miki Leal, BMW Painting Prize 2016, have participated. Both artists have been able to dialogue with several members of the jury of this edition, Guillermo Solana, and Lucía Casani. All of this moderated by the journalist and curator Bea Espejo.
The meeting included the participation of Manuel Terroba, Executive President of BMW Group Spain and Portugal, and Pilar García de la Puebla, Director of Communication and Institutional Relations of BMW Group Spain.
In the conversation, topics such as the state of contemporary painting in our country, the impact of the award on the careers of the winners, as well as the different forms of collaboration with artists from the institutions, were put on the table.
In its forty years, the BMW Painting Prize has become one of the most prestigious awards within our country and one of the few initiatives that four decades later continues to support Spanish artistic creation.