Anna Bella Geiger has been awarded the 2026 Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts by the Ministry of Culture. The jury praised her "permanent attitude of experimentation, which has led her to work across multiple disciplines and languages, as well as her pedagogical commitment that has had a fundamental impact on various generations." This prestigious award comes with a monetary prize of €100,000.
The jury noted that throughout her seventy-year career, Geiger has consistently challenged conventional modes of artistic validation. They also acknowledged her insistence on using artistic practice as a tool to reflect on history and the present.
In the previous edition, the prize was awarded to Patricia Belli, adding to a distinguished list of past recipients that includes Francesc Torres, Marisa González, Elda Cerrato, Tania Bruguera, and Soledad Sevilla, among others.
About anna bella geiger
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1933, Anna Bella Geiger is a Brazilian artist whose work encompasses printmaking, painting, photography, video, installation, and artist books. She graduated in Anglo-Germanic Languages from the National Faculty of Philosophy in Rio de Janeiro and trained from 1949 to 1953 in the workshop of Fayga Ostrower. She later expanded her studies in Art and Sociology with Hannah Levy-Deinhard at the New School for Social Research in New York.
Geiger has exhibited extensively both in Brazil and internationally, participating in prestigious biennials such as those in São Paulo, Venice, and Istanbul. Her work has been featured in significant group exhibitions, including 'Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing' (1960–1991) at the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna and 'Latin America' (1960–2013) at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.
Notable solo exhibitions include 'Brasil Nativo – Brasil Alienígena' at the MASP and 'Maps under the Sky of Rio de Janeiro' at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. Her works are part of collections at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Among her publications are 'Abstraccionismo Geométrico Informal: La vanguardia brasileña de los años 50', published by Funarte in Rio de Janeiro, and 'Rrose Selavy «mesmo»', published by Aural in Madrid.
Jury composition
The jury, chaired by Ángeles Albert, General Director of Cultural Heritage and Fine Arts at the Ministry of Culture, included Martha Patricia Belli, the 2025 Velázquez Prize winner; Joan Vila-Puig Morera, Vice President of the Assembleària D'artistes de Catalunya; Fuensanta Nieto de la Cierva, a full academic of the Architecture Section of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando; Bárbara Rodríguez Muñoz, Director of Exhibitions and Collection at the Centro Botín; Juan Francisco Rueda Garote, Professor of Art History at the University of Málaga, art critic, and exhibition curator; Rosa María Castells González, Curator of Collections at the MACA (Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante); Mabel Tapia, Professor of Art History and Theory and independent curator; and Pablo Lafuente Peña, Artistic Director of the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro.
