Chronology

1980-2004

The Cantabrian businessman José María Lafuente (Lugo, 1957) brings together works of Spanish painters and sculptors, who are then joined by pieces of international artists. Around 2002 he reorients his vocation as a collector to documentary funds and drives the birth of its archive, being key in this sense the acquisition of the legacies of two relevant names in the Spanish culture of the second half of the century: the art critic Miguel Logroño and the writer, professor and editor Pablo Beltrán de Heredia. In 2004, he obtained a copy of the dadá magazine Cabaret Voltaire, thus initiating the decisive international vocation of Archivo Lafuente.

2009

José María Lafuente founds Ediciones La Bahia, an imprint of Archivo Lafuente, with the purpose of disseminating studies on documentary and artistic funds of the Archivo.

2010

First meeting of Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), with José María Lafuente. This is the origin of cooperation between the two institutions.

2012

Lafuente acquires the journal Arte y Parte, from which 25 issues are edited until the end of 2016, including monographs dedicated, for example, to Max Bill, Sol LeWitt, Marcel Broodthaers, Moholy-Nagy or Dadá.

3-9-2012

Signature of the "Framework Agreement for Collaboration" between the MNCARS and José María Lafuente.

October 2014

Archivo Lafuente is integrated into Lafuente Group, whose owners are the siblings José María and Manuela Lafuente Llano.

20-3-2015

Signature of the "Memorandum of Understanding" between the MNCARS and Archivo Lafuente.

March 2015

Presentation to the General Secretariat of Culture / MNCARS of a complete documentary record of Archivo Lafuente.

18-2-2016

Signature of the agreement between the MNCARS and Archivo Lafuente, which contains the following basic lines:

• Right of preferential and free use in favor of MNCARS over the funds of Archivo Lafuente for a period of ten years.
• Exclusive purchase option on the funds of Archivo Lafuente in favor of MNCARS during the term of the agreement.
• Commitment of the MNCARS to promote, to the extent of their competences, an associated centre Museo Reina Sofía – Archivo Lafuente in the former Banco de España building in Santander.

25-7-2018

The agreement to create the associated centre Museo Reina Sofía – Archivo Lafuente in the former headquarters of the Banco de España in the city is signed by the Santander City Council. The agreement is signed by the Minister of Culture (José Guirao), the mayor of Santander (Gema Igual) and the director of the MNCARS (Manuel Borja-Villel).

16-03-22

The Historical Heritage Assets Classification, Valuation and Export Board of the Spanish Ministry of Culture wrote a favourable report on the acquisition of Archivo Lafuente. 

27-07-22

After approval of the Council of Ministers, the director of Museo Reina Sofía, Manuel Borja-Villel, and the collector José María Lafuente sign the sales contract.