The exhibition brings together 47 works by 28 artists from five countries, including internationally renowned names such as Banksy, Keith Haring, Blek le Rat, Lady Pink, SEEN, BLADE, Felipe Pantone and Vhils. Zaragoza-based collective Boa Mistura is also represented, sharing the space with creators who have turned street art into an internationally recognised language.
Paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations and graphic interventions reveal the diversity of a movement that has changed the way contemporary art is understood. Its leading figures used walls, shutters, trains and façades as canvases for expressing themselves outside traditional circuits. Over time, works created in public spaces have found their way into museums and prestigious collections around the world.
THE MOST REBELLIOUS ART
One of the exhibition’s main attractions is precisely this journey from the pioneers of New York graffiti to the latest forms of urban creativity. Figures such as Keith Haring helped bring the pulse of the street into a visual language recognised around the world, while Banksy has turned anonymity, satire and social criticism into some of the best-known hallmarks of contemporary art.
The exhibition, curated by Lola Durán and Sergio Beltrán, invites visitors to look beyond labels and discover a cultural phenomenon that champions public space as a place for expression, experimentation and creative freedom. It also highlights how a movement that stood outside institutions for decades has ultimately secured a prominent place in the history of recent art.
"The Art That Didn’t Ask Permission" can be visited at the Patio de la Infanta, at 16 Calle San Ignacio de Loyola, until January 10, 2027. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. General admission costs six euros and reduced admission costs three, while visitors under 18 can enter free of charge. The exhibition is part of Fundación Ibercaja’s programme marking its 150th anniversary.
