Helga de Alvear

Helga de Alvear (born 1936) is a German-Spanish art collector and art dealer.

Early life and education
De Alvear was born in the city of Kirn/Nahe (Rheinland-Pfalz), Germany, in 1936. She studied at the Salem School near Lake Constance, and subsequently in Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland. She furthered her studies afterwards in London for a year.

In 1957 De Alvear travelled to Spain to learn Spanish and met the architect Jaime de Alvear. They married in 1959 and she set up residence in Madrid. They had three children, Maria, Ana and Patricia.

Early beginnings
In 1967 Helga de Alvear met Juana Mordó and began what would later turn into her art collection. She came into contact with artists from the Cuenca group and from the El Paso group and she became increasingly interested in the Spanish art scene. In January 1980 she started to work at the Juana Mordó gallery. Here, she was able to hone her knowledge about the international art scene.

Galería Helga de Alvear
De Alvear continued to be involved in the Juana Mordó gallery for the next 4 years, and in 1984, when Mordó died, she took the helm. Over the next 10 years, she followed in the artistic and professional footsteps of her mentor.

In 1995, De Alvear decided to take a turn in her career by opening a new gallery under her own name in a space measuring more than 900 square meters next to the Reina Sofía Museum. Many of her projects championed international contemporary art with a special emphasis on photography, video and installation – at a time when these mediums were practically unknown in Spain. Today, Helga de Alvear's project is one of the best-established and longest-running art galleries on the Spanish scene. and it has earned widespread international acclaim.

Among others, the gallery has been representing the following living artists:
 * Angela Bulloch
 * Thomas Demand
 * Elmgreen & Dragset
 * Axel Hütte
 * Isaac Julien
 * Imi Knoebel
 * Karin Sander
 * Santiago Sierra

Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear
De Alvear's collection, including more than 3,000 pieces by Spanish and international artists, have been part of the Fundación Helga de Alvear since 2006, a joint initiative with the Regional Government of Extremadura. The first phase of the Fundación Helga de Alvear Visual Arts Centre, based in an early 20th-century building known as Casa Grande, opened in the historic quarter of Cáceres in 2010. From 2015, Spanish architects Mansilla + Tuñón Architects built a 8,000 sq. m annexe building that was inaugurated on 25 February of 2021 and changed its name to Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear.

The cost of the new museum was around €10 million with half of the funds coming from De Alvear herself and half from institutions in Extremadura. The mission of the collection is also to contribute to public awareness about art and it often loans out works to institutions around the world. In addition, it has been the subject of a number of in-depth exhibitions.

The Museum presents a selection of around 200 works (a 5% of Helga de Alvear total Collection), including paintings, sculptures, photographs, video art, drawings and installations, by more than 100 international artists. The semi-permanent exhibition allows the public to explore works by Picasso, Louise Bourgeois, Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Robert Motherwell, Gordillo, Campano, Carmen Laffón, Tàpies, and Ai Weiwei, among other important figures in contemporary art. In addition, the museum has an outdoor garden featuring a sculpture of a hundred-year-old olive tree by Ugo Rondinone, and is connected to the facilities of the former Helga de Alvear Visual Arts Centre in the refurbished modernist building known as La Casa Grande.

Other activities
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, de Alvear donated €1 million (about $1.1 million) to efforts dedicated to finding a vaccine. The funds were directed toward research conducted by Luis Enjuanes, a virologist for the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Recognitions
De Alvear was awarded the Medal of Extremadura in 2007, the Gold Medal for Merit in the category of Fine Arts (bestowed by the Spanish Ministry of Culture) in 2008, the Medal of Cáceres in 2011 and Fundación Arte y Mecenazgo Award in the category of Collector in 2012, among others recognitions.