A major exhibition, “Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums”, is on show for the first time at the Santander Art Gallery in Financial City, Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, until June 19.

The exhibition has been organised by Fundación Banco Santander in partnership with Qatar Museums and under the leadership of its chairperson, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Mansoor bin Ebrahim al-Mahmoud, CEO of Qatar Museums; Abdellah Karroum, curator of the exhibition and director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art; and Rodrigo Echenique, chairman of Santander Spain, were in attendance at the opening of the show.

The majority of the works in “Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums” have been loaned by Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, and there are also a number of pieces from other Qatar Museums collections.

This selection, totaling more than 160 works, represents the history of contemporary Arab art as seen through the eyes of 34 artists, most of whom are natives of Arab nations such as Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Iraq and Kuwait, including Etel Adnan, Shirin Neshat, Mona Hatoum, Wael Shawky and Yousef Ahmad.

The exhibition also includes works by foreign-born creators whose art is related to the Arab world, such as Yan Pei-Ming and Cai Guo-Qiang from China and the Belgian master, René Magritte.

Visitors to the gallery will have the opportunity to contemplate, for the first time outside Qatar, an ample selection of works from the Qatar Museums collections.

HE Sheikha Al Mayassa said, “Art can create new opportunities for dialogue and exchange and prompt new understandings of human history.” This collaboration between Fundación Banco Santander and Qatar Museums, according to her, “speaks to the privileged role that art can play in building bridges and opportunities whose significance extends well beyond the museum walls”.

How we look at the world around us is the central idea that guided the curator, Abdellah Karroum, in the process of choosing and interrelating the portraits, photographs, sculptures, installations and video installations that comprise this show. The exhibition explores the connection between art and history through multiple works.

The exhibition is, in the words of Karroum - curator of the show and director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art - an invitation to look again and see anew; an invitation, in other words, to rethink the alignment of histories and how to make sense of the world today.

Rodrigo Echenique, chairman of Santander Spain, added: “The Santander Art Galley exemplifies the bank’s interest in building a more prosperous community through culture, creativity and education.”