The exhibition displays a hundred pieces from one of the most prestigious private photography collections in the world: the Sondra Gilman – Celso González-Falla Collection, in which the great icons of 20th-century photography, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, Robert Mapplethorpe, Imogen Cunningham, William Klein, Bill Brandt or Graciela Iturbide, coexist with young talents of contemporary photography.
The collection—actually two collections in one: that of Sondra Gilman and that of Celso González-Falla—was started in the 1970s, when Sondra discovered the work of French photographer Eugène Atget at MoMA in New York and bought her first three photographs.
Currently, the collection comprises more than 1,500 works and, despite the death of Sondra Gilman in 2021, it continues to expand with new acquisitions by Celso González-Falla, with a notable presence of Latin American photography and works by young photographers. From its inception to the present day, the collectors have followed a single criterion in their quest: ‘What we look for in an image is very simple: it must move us.’
List of authors
Robert Adams, Ansel Easton Adams, Shelby Lee Adams, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Eugène Atget, Laurent Elie Badessi, Kristin Bedford, Ilse Bing, Matt Black, Bill Brandt, Brassaï, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, Julia Margaret Cameron, Augusto Cantamessa, Cornell Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lucien Clergue, Imogen Cunningham, Walker Evans, Ana Teresa Fernández, Donna Ferrato, Larry Fink, Paola Fiterre, Gala Font de Mora, Héctor García Cobo, Alberto García-Alix, Flor Garduño, Luigi Ghirri, Mario Giacomelli, Beatrice Helg, Pieter Henket, David Hockney, Kati Horna, Walter Iooss, Graciela Iturbide, Michael Kenna, William Klein, Helen Levitt, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, Kurt Markus, Ramón Masats, Francisco Mata Rosas, Steve McCurry, Ana Mendieta, Enrique Metinides, Joel Meyerowitz, Richard Misrach, Lisette Model, Tina Modotti, Cirenaica Moreira, Zanele Muholi, Vik Muniz, Mahala Nuuk, Ayline Olukman, Gabriel Orozco, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Martha Maria Pérez Bravo, Man Ray, Aleksandr Ródtxenko, José Ángel Rodríguez, Willy Ronis, Sebastião Salgado, Andres Serrano, Aldo Sessa, Edward Steichen, Louis Stettner, Paul Strand, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Jerry Uelsmann, Marina Viancini, Margaret Watkins, Weegee, Brett Weston, Minor White, Garry Winogrand, Francesca Woodman
EXHIBITION-RELATED ACTIVITIES
Fri 21/11/2025 – 7.30 p.m.
Conversation between Celso González-Falla and Pepe Font de Mora
Pepe Font de Mora, director of Foto Colectania Foundation for 23 years and advisor of its collection, will talk with the photography collector Celso González-Falla about the essence of collecting and its importance in the conservation and dissemination of photographic legacies.