Punto y contrapunto presents a selection of 17 works from the personal collection of Jaime Botín, generously entrusted by his heirs to the Centro Botín for permanent display.

The exhibition brings together major 20th-century names including Francis Bacon, Juan Gris, José Gutiérrez Solana, Henri Matisse, Joaquín Sorolla, and others. It works less like a large encyclopaedic display and more like an intimate conversation between different ways of making modern art: portrait and abstraction, Spanish tradition and European avant-garde, figuration and emotional distortion.

The title is key: point and counterpoint. The works are not presented as isolated trophies, but as visual echoes and tensions — artists responding, contradicting or amplifying each other across the 20th century.

Because it gives Santander a permanent modern-art anchor.

Centro Botín is often visited for its architecture, temporary exhibitions and bay views, but this display adds something essential: a small, high-quality core of modern masters that can be revisited at any time. It makes the museum feel less dependent on the temporary programme and more rooted in a collection story.

For Artlovers, it is worth visiting because it combines three strong elements: Renzo Piano’s building, the Cantabrian light, and a concentrated selection of modern art. It is not a huge exhibition, but it is the kind of room that can make a visit to Santander feel culturally complete.

Don’t rush from name to name.

Use the exhibition title as your method: look for the point and the counterpoint. What does a Spanish portrait say next to a European modernist work? How does colour change from Sorolla to Matisse? How does the human figure transform when you move from tradition to Bacon?

And after seeing it, step outside to the terraces of Centro Botín. The contrast between modern painting and the Santander bay is part of the experience.