PHoto España, the Photography and Visual Arts Festival

From 13 May to 13 September, Madrid once again experiences a visual marathon: PHotoESPAÑA turns the city into a route of exhibitions spread across museums, galleries and cultural spaces.

This year’s theme is “Reimagine”. The festival proposes viewing photography as a process in which reality is not fixed, but recomposed through experiment, doubt and play with perception.

The Netherlands will be the guest country in 2026. Its projects will be shown at the Círculo de Bellas Artes and Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, as well as in the festival’s professional programme.

As in previous editions, PHotoESPAÑA is divided into the official programme and the Off. The former brings together major museum exhibitions and key artists, while the latter is developed through galleries, where photography becomes part of the market and collections. The PHE Circuit completes the route, extending the festival beyond its usual spaces.

In 2026, the official programme will feature more than 40 exhibitions and dozens of venues throughout the city. Artists include Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Colita, Isabel Muñoz, Isabel Azkarate and other figures who have shaped the photographic language of different generations.

One of the central projects will be “LUX & UMBRA” by Viviane Sassen at Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa: the artist’s first solo exhibition in Spain and a retrospective conceived as a reinterpretation of her archives.

Fundación MAPFRE Sala Recoletos will show Richard Avedon’s “In the American West” and Alejandro Cartagena’s “Ground Rules” series. Espacio Fundación Telefónica will present Robert Frank’s “The Americans” series in its entirety for the first time in Spain.

Fundación Casa de México en España will open the exhibition “Spectres. Enigmas of the Gaze”; Matadero Madrid will host Greta Alfaro’s “Ofertorio” project; and the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas will present Gema Polanco’s installation “My Entire House Is an Altar”.