The Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts for 2026 carries 100,000 euros and was awarded to Anna Bella Geiger by the jury convened on Wednesday, 21 October.
The jury highlighted her permanent experimentation across disciplines and her pedagogical commitment, which it says has affected several generations over seventy years of career.
The jury of the Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts, convened on Wednesday, 21 October, named Anna Bella Geiger the 2026 laureate. The prize is worth 100,000 euros and is awarded on the proposal of the jury, with the Ministry of Culture of Spain behind it. Geiger succeeds Patricia Belli, who received the prize in its previous edition.
The jury praised her "attitude of permanent experimentation" and her pedagogical commitment, which it says has had a fundamental impact on several generations. Reports say the jury also considers that over her seventy years of career she has questioned, and continues to question, the conventional ways artistic work is validated.
“Has questioned and continues to question the conventional modes of artistic validation.”
Geiger's practice covers printmaking, painting, photography, video, installation and the artist's book. She studied Anglo-Germanic languages at the National Faculty of Philosophy in Rio de Janeiro and trained between 1949 and 1953 in the workshop of Fayga Ostrower. She later broadened her studies in art and sociology with Hannah Levy-Deinhard at the New School for Social Research in New York.
She has exhibited in Brazil and internationally and has taken part in the São Paulo, Venice and Istanbul biennials. Her work has appeared in group shows such as Radical Software: Women, Art and Computing at the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, and Latin America at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. Her solo exhibitions include Brasil Nativo - Brasil Alienígena at MASP and Maps under the Sky of Rio de Janeiro at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw.
Works by Geiger are held by the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid, Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and MoMA in New York. EL PAÍS reports that she was a pioneer of video among Brazilian artists. Art historian Estrella de Diego, who curated some of her exhibitions, told the newspaper that Geiger's work has not had the visibility of her male peers.
Her books include Abstraccionismo Geométrico Informal: La vanguardia brasileña de los años 50, published by Funarte in Rio de Janeiro, and Rrose Selavy mesmo, published by Aural in Madrid.
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The jury chose the Brazilian artist, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1933, for her permanent experimentation and teaching work across generations. The prize carries 100,000 euros and succeeds Patricia Belli, last year's laureate.
AI text based on reports by EL PAÍS, EL MUNDO, europa press and other publishers. Published .