When Contemporary Art talks, it screams. In Arco Madrid, Spain’s biggest International Contemporary Art fair,  art screams multiple languages at once. The exhibitions at Arco Madrid prompt a dialogue between rationality and perception while attendees decipher and appreciate the beautiful mysteries of art. 

Arco Madrid happens every February IFEMA Madrid, one of the five most important trade fair institutions in Europe. Arco is divided into three different sections: the General Program, which features top-tier galleries worldwide, Curated Programs, and Artist Projects featuring younger and older generations of artists from all around the world. The Contemporary Art Fair has gained recognition for its internationality, exposing the works of world-renowned artists and galleries. An example as such is the French Gallery “Galerie Denise Renee,” which has exhibited major artists in the constructive abstraction movement. Among the many art enthusiasts who have attended the event, notable attendees include Prince Felipe and Princess Leticia of Spain, who have attended the inauguration every year since 2009. 

Founded in 1982 by the art galleries Spanish Juana de Aizpuru, Arco Madrid started as a gallery fair during a period of rapid modernization in Spain, which was transitioning from a dictatorship to a democracy. Arco has played a significant role in enhancing and globalizing the Spanish art market by introducing an international event that prompts foreign artists, galleries, critics, and collectors to come to Madrid. Since it was founded, Arco’s immense success prompted the gallery to be expanded: ArcoLisboa, the Portuguese outpost of Arco Madrid, entered the scene in 2015. 

While walking through a maze of white walls and grey floors that separate the colorful gallery sections of Arco Madrid, attendees travel to different parts and cultures of the world in one place. The International Contemporary Art Fair uses the visual to break the barriers between nations, showcasing more than 200 galleries from 30 countries every year at IFEMA Madrid.  Representing artists from all around the world, Arco Madrid connects nations and cultures through art. Such an example was offered by the 2020 exhibition of “Galeria Mayoral” at Arco, which presented an original dialogue between epochal modern artists Joan Miró and Zao Wou-Ki for the first time, by highlighting how, despite the two artists coming from very different periods and backgrounds, they shared aesthetic and poetic and pictorial concerns. 

Arco Madrid offers attendees an experience that surpasses appreciating exhibitions by introducing activities such as the Arco Madrid Forum. The forum invites art lovers, critics, collectors, and scholars to become one while engaging in speeches and discussions about contemporary creativity and the art market. Forums from the past year have included a discussion about “How to address the most pressing issues of our times through the lenses of art?” featuring the Swiss collector Francesca Thyssen-Bornmisza and “Collecting Practices and Art Fairs” featuring the Historian Augustin Pérez Rubio.

In order for Arco Madrid to be appreciated at its fullest it is recommended that attendees visit it for four to five days. This is not a problem since Arco  is located near the heart of the Spanish capital. Some of the most luxurious hotels, such as The Mandarin Oriental Ritz and Villa Magna Madrid, are only fifteen minutes away by car. After a day of appreciating art from all corners of the world, attendees can further their Avant Garde experiences with a fine meal at Madrid’s most exclusive restaurants such as Paco Roncero and Ramón Freixa which are also a fifteen minute drive away. 

Art is a language in and of itself and the exhibitions at Arco Madrid speak directly to any devoted art enthusiast. The Contemporary Art Fair’s internationality and unique activities, such as the Arco Madrid Forum, promotes a more intellectual experience prompting attendees to broaden their knowledge, and minds, towards the effects of art in the world and the global art industry.