Helga de Alvear

Helga de Alvear ( Müller Schätzel, 1936 – 2 February 2025) was a German-Spanish art collector and dealer of contemporary art. Living in Madrid from 1959, where she had personal contact to the art scene, she began to collect contemporary art by Spanish and international artists in 1967, over decades more than 3000 works by more than 500 artists. She opened her own gallery, Galería Helga de Alvear, in 1995. In 2006, she began to share her collection with the public in a foundation with the Government of Extremadura. A museum in a house in the historic district of Cáceres opened in 2010. A new annex expanding it was built from 2015 and opened in 2021. The museum, then called Museum of Contemporary Art Helga de Alvear, displays around 5% of her collection.

Background Helga Müller Schätzel was born in Kirn, Germany (now in Rhineland-Palatinate), in 1936. Thomas Demand, Elmgreen & Dragset Axel Hütte, Isaac Julien, Imi Knoebel, Karin Sander and Santiago Sierra. The cost of the new museum was around €10 million with half of the funds coming from de Alvear and half from institutions in Extremadura. The mission of the collection is also to contribute to public awareness about art, and it often lends out works to institutions around the world. In addition, it has been the subject of a number of in-depth exhibitions. The semi-permanent exhibition allows the public to explore works by Josef Albers, Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Nan Goldin, Jenny Holzer, Anish Kapoor, Paul Klee, Gordon Matta-Clark and Philippe Parreno.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, de Alvear donated €1 million (about $1.1 million) to research for a vaccine. The funds were directed toward scientific work conducted by Luis Enjuanes, a virologist for the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

De Alvear died in Madrid on 2 February 2025, at the age of 88.

Recognitions De Alvear was awarded the Medal of Extremadura in 2007, the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts bestowed by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in 2008, the Medal of Cáceres in 2011 and Fundación Arte y Mecenazgo Award in the category of Collector in 2012, among other recognitions. She was awarded the Medalla Internacional de las Artes from Madrid in 2020.