Marisol Escobar was the enigmatic queen of the 1960s New York art scene, a woman who often outshone Warhol before retreating into the shadows. This retrospective at Centro Botín shifts the spotlight from her famous wooden figures to her lifelong drawing practice, revealing a vulnerable, obsessive search for identity through sketches of hands, masks, and self-portraits. It is a rare look at an artist who used her own face to question the very nature of fame and public image.

You're watching a dialogue between mass and line. Standing in the Renzo Piano-designed galleries, you see the heavy, blocky presence of wooden sculptures like Triumph set against the delicate, sometimes frantic pencil strokes of her notebooks. The light from the Bay of Santander floods the room, making the grain of the wood and the grain of the paper feel equally tactile and alive.

• Unseen archives: Explore the first-ever retrospective focusing on Marisol’s drawings, featuring personal sketchbooks she kept hidden in her studio until the end.
• Warhol’s lens: See rare 16mm films shot by Andy Warhol that capture Marisol’s stillness as she poses alongside her own life-sized wooden figures.
• A seaside masterclass: Experience how Marisol’s later obsession with the ocean comes to life in a building that literally floats over the Cantabrian Sea.

Start with the early sketches to understand her foundations in Los Angeles, then move slowly toward the cinematic rooms where her friendship with Warhol is documented. Pay attention to the way she incorporates her own body casts into her sculptures; it is a haunting reminder of her physical presence. Afterward, walk out onto the Centro Botín’s cantilevered platforms to watch the tide come in, letting the stillness of the galleries settle against the movement of the water.