A growing convergence between art and science, new narratives taking shape, and an increasing participation of the public in gallery spaces define the annual and future strategy of the La Caixa Foundation. The exhibitions take center stage as the core activity of CaixaForum, which now operates nine CaixaForum centers across Spain under the CaixaForum umbrella. CosmoCaixa reaches beyond Barcelona, extending its influence through events in other cities and solidifying what may be the strongest network of cultural institutions in the country.
This morning in Barcelona, the major innovations for the new season were unveiled. There are 34 exhibitions planned, 10 of them premieres. The program is built with the collaboration of leading international cultural and scientific institutions, linking past artifacts with today’s big debates and contemporary challenges.
The fourth wave of feminism is a global force that reshapes conversations from public life to private beliefs. Museums and exhibition halls increasingly host reflections on how gender shapes the past, present, and future. CaixaForum Madrid opens its new season on September 27 with a focus on the spiritual impact of women across diverse cultures throughout history, framed within art and belief.
The season’s centerpiece includes a dialogue between sacred objects and contemporary art that questions goddesses, witches, and other feminine spiritual beings, inviting critical reflection on gender stereotypes. The initiative is the product of a renewed collaboration between the La Caixa Foundation and key partners, supported by major institutions that contributed to a total of 166 works, ranging from ancient Aphrodite to works by contemporary figures such as Marina Abramović. The aim is to explore how sacred narratives intersect with modern art and how public engagement can be part of this dialogue, with leadership statements emphasizing the desire for active public participation and timely social discussions in the galleries.
30 meters of dinosaur
Barcelona will host a showcase of fossils in collaboration with Patagonia Dinosaurs, featuring a 30-meter-long replica of a Patagotitan specimen, among the largest dinosaurs ever unearthed. The exhibition, organized with the Egidio Feruglio Museum of Paleontology, travels by boat in three containers, with the largest replica set to be exhibited in Madrid after its stop in Barcelona.
A recent discovery has been highlighted by museum officials, noting that this enormous fossil was found only recently after a farm worker mistook it for a stone used in a traditional game. It is a femur fragment about 2.40 meters long, weighing around 600 kilograms. The initial excavations took several days. After its run in CosmoCaixa, the exhibition will continue to Madrid in the following July.
Meanwhile, CaixaForum Barcelona will open another planet-themed show focused on living weight and the bond between art and nature. A century of biomorphism traces how artists relate to animals and plants, featuring works by Miró, Kandinsky, Le Corbusier, Pamela Rosenkranz, and Jeremy Deller across painting, sculpture, photography, cinema, and design. The Pompidou Center in Paris presents eighty works distributed into four themes: Transformation, Imitation, Creation, and The Threat. This show arrives in Madrid on February 19.
Berlanga influence
The programming at CaixaForum centers continues to honor film director Luis García Berlanga, a native of Valencia. A candid portrait of Berlanga is presented through materials preserved and digitized from his family archive with the Foundation’s support. The exhibition promises to reveal unexpected details from his school notebooks to letters sent to his parents during hospitalization, offering insights into the artist’s studio and how archival material informs his cinema and creative process. Berlanga’s son explains that the show will be unusual and unprecedented, aiming to illuminate lesser-known aspects of his father’s life and work.
A rare glimpse into the archive
Berlanga Jr. notes that the exhibit as a whole is only the tip of the iceberg, with additional material still to be explored. The archive includes dozens of unpublished screenplays, correspondence from the Blue Section, school notebooks filled with drawings and poems, and letters prepared for film projects. Some items of a private nature will be revealed gradually as the project evolves, with plans to reach other capitals as the archive expands.
Botany and Rubens with Prado
The Foundation’s collaborations with major cultural institutions, including the British Museum, the New York Museum of Natural History, and the Prado Museum, highlight a model of public-private cooperation. These alliances extend Prado’s reach to fourteen cities from Girona to Cádiz and from La Coruña to Tenerife, following the renowned nineteenth-century portrait exhibitions. The next stops include Zaragoza and other CaixaForum centers, continuing conversations about Botany, Rubens, and Prado’s works.
A return to normalcy and audience growth
The morning presentation also celebrated a return toward normalcy after the pandemic years. The Foundation reports about 4.5 million visitors this year, with numbers comparable to pre-pandemic levels. CaixaForum Valencia marked a milestone by surpassing one million visits in its first year. The platform CaixaForum+ continues to grow online, offering free content and drawing more than a hundred thousand subscribers, with a sizable base of repeat users who engage regularly. The Foundation’s budget remains stable, supporting both the physical centers and digital offerings as a shared cultural mission.
Cited works and future directions
The dialogue between historic artifacts and contemporary practice remains central. Innovation in exhibitions, strong collaborations with international partners, and a focus on active public participation shape the Foundation’s strategy for Canada and the United States audience as well, ensuring accessible, locally relevant cultural experiences that bridge past, present, and future in meaningful ways.