Richard Avedon spent five summers between 1979 and 1984 photographing more than a thousand people across the American West — miners, ranch hands, drifters, factory workers — for a project that would become his defining work. In the American West arrives at Fundación MAPFRE from 6 June to 30 August 2026, marking the first time these 110 vintage prints have been shown in Spain.
What it is
Commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, the project sent Avedon and his assistants across twenty-one states with a large-format 20x25cm camera mounted on a tripod. Every subject was shot frontally against a plain white backdrop, using only natural light — a deliberately austere approach borrowed from the itinerant portrait photographers who once crossed the country town to town. The photographs are hung in the sequence they appeared in the 1985 photobook, alongside previously unseen material documenting how the project came together.
Avedon had already shot Vogue covers and exhibited at MoMA and the Met by the time he started this project, and the shift was deliberate. He wanted to turn his lens on the working-class Americans left behind by Reagan-era economic policy — not as a polemic, but as a sustained, unglamorous act of looking. Organised jointly with the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris and curated by Clément Chéroux, the show runs alongside a second Fundación MAPFRE exhibition, Alejandro Cartagena's Ground Rules, included in the same ticket.
Why it's worth attending
These are reference prints Avedon worked on personally with his lab, so what's on the wall is as close to his original vision as photography gets. The flat lighting and plain backdrops strip away almost everything except the faces themselves, and the cumulative effect — more than a hundred people staring straight at the camera — builds into something closer to a social document than a portrait series. It's not a fast show: there's no colour, no landscape, very little to look at beyond human faces and postures, so it demands more attention than a typical photography exhibition. Worth combining with the Cartagena exhibition next door, included in the same ticket.
Practical info
Dates: 6 June – 30 August 2026. General admission €5, reduced €3 (concessions for students, over-65s and other eligible groups); free entry Mondays 14:00–20:00 (non-holidays). Opening hours: Monday 14:00–20:00; Tuesday to Saturday 11:00–20:00; Sunday and public holidays 11:00–19:00. Audio guide included with all individual tickets. Nearest metro: Banco de España or Colón.
FAQ
Does the ticket include other exhibitions?
Yes, general admission also covers Alejandro Cartagena's Ground Rules, showing concurrently at the same venue.
Are the photographs in colour?
No, all the prints are black and white, shot against a plain white backdrop using only natural light.
Is there an audio guide?
Yes, an audio guide is included with individual admission tickets at no extra cost.
When is entry free?
Mondays from 14:00 to 20:00 (excluding public holidays) offer free entry to the exhibition.
