The international press highlights the quality of the Hortensia Herrero Art Centre

The echo of the inauguration of the Hortensia Herrero Art Center transcends borders. Since its opening, the new space dedicated to contemporary art in the city of València has caught the attention of some of the most prestigious cultural newspapers and magazines in Europe. During the opening weekend, up to 15 journalists from different media outlets gathered, praising the quality of both the collection of Hortensia Herrero exhibited in the center and the restoration of the building itself in the subsequent weeks.

The prestigious French magazine The Art Newspaper highlighted what viewers can find at the Hortensia Herrero Art Center: ‘Well-conceived, its goal is to offer a selection of prominent figures in contemporary art, from Miquel Barceló to Anselm Kiefer, from Anish Kapoor to David Hockney. The CAHH is housed in a beautifully renovated old palace by ERRE Arquitectura, in the heart of the city, to attract more visitors, occupying a total exhibition space of 3,500 square meters distributed between the historic building and the extension. Undoubtedly high-level, the CAHH, which cost 40 million euros, including the artistic projects created for the site, remains a collector’s space, not a public museum and, therefore, subjective.’

The German magazine Monopol, specialized in the art world, also echoed the inauguration, referring to the project’s patron, Hortensia Herrero: ‘The Valencian by birth loves her hometown. With the opening of her museum, she not only wants to share internationally acclaimed contemporary art with the citizens but also turn Valencia into a leading cultural and artistic center. In fact, her name can be mentioned alongside art collectors Carmen Thyssen and Helga de Alvear, who, with their museums in Málaga and Cáceres, respectively, also seek to decentralize the art scene.’

The German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung highlighted, among other things, the quality of the collection: ‘The acquisition of works from the Hortensia Herrero collection, always in collaboration with the experienced advisor Javier Molins, is refreshing. The purchase of each work, some directly from the workshops, is discussed in detail; unlike other major collections, the selection of works becomes much more personal. After a five-year renovation phase of the Valeriola Palace, located in the old Jewish quarter of Valencia, the collection, compiled exclusively according to taste, has been integrated room by room into the spacious building. (…) However, the most touching room is the old chapel of the palace with Renaissance forms clearly inspired by Palladian. Allowing Irish artist Sean Scully to completely decorate this miniature chapel was the best decision by the collector. (…) The forty million euros allocated to the renovation are well invested.’

The French magazine Le Quotidien de l’Art praised the collection and the location: ‘One of the most beautiful private collections in Spain is now visible to the public in a museum in the heart of the old town of Valencia. From Manolo Valdés to Anselm Kiefer, it presents a representative selection of major names in contemporary art. Therefore, this new private cultural space is a small miracle, just like everything Hortensia Herrero and her husband Juan Roig touch.’

One of the major Italian newspapers, La Repubblica, also recently dedicated a comprehensive article to the Hortensia Herrero Art Center: ‘If you look up, you will discover the first wonders of the brand-new Hortensia Herrero Art Center, the contemporary art museum promoted by the homonymous foundation that, with its 3,500 square meters and more than a hundred works by some of the world’s most recognized artists, aims to put Valencia on the map of contemporary art.’ ‘These three works (referring to the site-specifics by Tomás Saraceno, Jaume Plensa, and Mat Collishaw), rooted in the place but cosmopolitan, would be enough to explain the cultural operation driven by Valencian Hortensia Herrero, arts patron and collector, president of the Herrero Foundation: to create a new museum that does not fall like a meteorite into the urban fabric but initiates a dialogue with Valencia.’

Another example is the British The Wallpaper Magazine: ‘The Hortensia Herrero Art Center (CAHH), located in a meticulously renovated 17th-century palace in the heart of Valencia, is poised to put this sunny Mediterranean city on the map of contemporary art. Experiencing contemporary art within this context makes it difficult not to see the work as part of a longer arc of history; a reflection of the present but also another piece of a larger story.