Exhibitions
Marisol, drawing as a territory of identity and transformation
The Botín Foundation will dedicate its next major exhibition to the graphic universe of Marisol with Marisol: When everything is about to begin. Drawings from 1949 to 2015 , a retrospective that can be visited from May 23 to October 25, 2026, and which vindicates drawing as the fundamental axis of one of the most unique trajectories in contemporary art.
The exhibition brings together more than 100 drawings created by the artist from the 1950s until the last moments of her life, offering a broad overview of a practice that accompanied her entire creative evolution. Alongside the drawings, the exhibition includes a selection of sculptures that reveal how Marisol translated her explorations of line, form, and representation into three-dimensional space, as well as materials from her personal archive and several Andy Warhol films in which the artist appears.
Drawn mostly from the Buffalo AKG Art Museum collection, the selection reveals drawing as a constant language in Marisol's work. Through it, the artist articulated her concerns about identity, society, and the human condition, combining personal experiences, observations of the world, and a powerful ability to create images imbued with irony, critique, and fantasy.
The exhibition's title echoes a phrase uttered by gallery owner Leo Castelli in the late 1950s, when Marisol decided to leave the United States after the success of her exhibition at Castelli's New York gallery. "How can you leave now, when everything is just beginning?" the gallery owner asked her, an expression that takes on new meaning today when we recall the moments when the artist chose to step away from the mainstream of the art world to continue developing a profoundly personal body of work.
Throughout her career, Marisol experimented with different artistic languages and maintained a complex relationship with fame, representation, and the expectations of the international art scene. Her temporary withdrawals from the spotlight coincided with periods of intense creative transformation, after which her work re-emerged with new interpretations and a renewed relevance.
The exhibition is part of the Botín Foundation's ongoing research into drawing as an artistic discipline, a program that has resulted in significant projects dedicated to figures such as Francisco de Goya, Manolo Millares, Juan Muñoz, and Silvia Bächli. With this retrospective, the institution continues to broaden the understanding of contemporary drawing and reaffirms the enduring relevance of an artist whose work continues to challenge the boundaries between the autobiographical, the social, and the imaginary.
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