PHotoESPAÑA 2026

Each summer, Madrid becomes a reference for the world of visual arts and photography. With exhibitions in leading museums, halls and art galleries, as well as diverse activities related to each year’s chosen theme, PHotoESPAÑA offers the possibility to discover the latest tendencies in photographic art, as well as the latest projects by the most internationally renowned artists. The latest edition will be held from 13 May to 13 September 2026, hosting many exhibitions by photographers and visual artists.

Under the title Reimagining, the 29th edition focuses on photographic creativity, experimentation and the exploration of the limits of the image, as well as questioning reality and authority. Curiosity, imagination, liberation and rebellion are all championed. Furthermore, the Festival seeks to pay tribute to adolescence and youth, a period in which we project ourselves toward the future and see ourselves always moving forward. 

PHotoESPAÑA offers the possibility to discover the latest tendencies in photographic art as well as the recent projects by the most internationally renowned artists. Its first edition was held in June 1998 with the main objective of giving photography a relevant place in public institutions and raising awareness of the work of galleries.

In this edition, the Netherlands will be the invited country, thanks to a programme that brings together various exhibitions at the Círculo de Bellas Artes and in the exhibition hall at the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, as well as its participation in the programme for professionals. 

As usual, the programme is divided into two sections: the Official Section and the Off Festival, awarding different prizes to recognise the work of some of the participating artists. Numerous museums and exhibition halls will take part in these sections in order to boost the promotion and development of the photographic market. 

The OFF Festival will confirm the role of art galleries as  essential players in the artistic ecosystem.  This section not only showcases photography, but also positions it as a collectible and marketable art form, attracting new audiences and professionals. The PHE Circuit will broaden the Festival’s horizons with an open-minded and constantly evolving approach. 

More than 40 exhibitions make up the Official Section in 2026, in which leading names, such as Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Colita, Isabel Muñoz or Isabel Azkarate stand out. This year, there are seven guest venues, rounded off by around 50  spaces for this edition’s exhibitions.  

The Dutch photographer, Viviane Sassen features in one of the highlights of the festival with LUX & UMBRA at the Fernán Gómez Culturasl Centre. Created specifically for PHotoESPAÑA 2026, it is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Spain and brings together more than three decades of creation in a retrospective that provides a poetic reinterpretation of her archive.

The festival also devotes several exhibitions to leading references from national and international photography.  From maestros in the discipline, such as Richard Avedon or Robert Frank or leading references in photojournalism, such as Colita and Isabel Azkarate to consolidated figures, such as Isabel Muñoz, and leading contemporary photographers, such as Talia Chetrit, Laia Abril, Bego Antón, Greta Alfaro, Rafał Milach, José Quintanilla or Gorka Postigo.

The In the American West exhibition, held in MAPFRE Foundation. Recoletos Exhibition Hall, will enter into the universe of Richard Avedon through images from the photobook of the same name, which was published in 1985 and is considered to be his masterpiece and a reference in contemporary portraiture. Ground Rules will also be held at the same venue, which will review more than two decades of the prolific career of the renowned Mexican-Dominican photographer, Alejandro Cartagena.

The Telefónica Foundation Space will present Robert Frank and The Americans, exhibiting the full photographic series created by Robert Frank during his travels around the United States in the mid-1950s for the first time in Spain.  

The Fundación Casa de México en España will host the Spectrums. Enigmas of Vision exhibition, which brings together the work of seven renowned Mexican photographers; and the Espacio Cultural Serrería Belga will host Azkarate vs. Azkarate by Isabel Azkarate, a pioneering artist in photojournalism and street photography. At Matadero Madrid, Greta Alfaro will present Offertory, an exploration of rituals and public spaces in contemporary life, while Gema Polanco presents My whole house is an altar, a dialogue between the domestic, the symbolic and the everyday at the National Museum of Decorative Arts.

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