Cristina Iglesias, born in November 1956 in Donostia–San Sebastián, Spain, lives and works in Madrid. Over the years, she has developed a distinctive sculptural language, creating immersive environments that merge architecture, literature, psychology, and cultural references. She studied Chemical Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (1976–78) before pursuing sculpture in London (1980–82). In 1995, she was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich.

She has received numerous awards, including Spain’s National Visual Arts Prize (1999), the Grosse Kunstpreis Berlin(2012), the National Graphic Arts Award (2019), the Royal Academy Architecture Prize (2020), and the Sorolla Medal(2024). She has represented Spain at the Venice Biennale (1986, 1993) and participated in major international biennials and triennials, including Sydney (1990, 2012), Taipei (2003), Carnegie International (2003), SITE Santa Fe (2006), and Folkestone (2011).

Cristina Iglesias has exhibited in over 60 international galleries and institutions. Her public works can be found at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Instituto Inhotim in Brazil, in San Sebastián, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and at Bloomberg Headquarters in London, among other notable sites worldwide.

Cristina Iglesias is the Artist of the Year 2026 and her commission Aurora Borealis Star Dome is the seventh work acquired by the Princess Estelle Cultural Foundation thanks to a gift from Louise & Carl-Henric Svanberg. The sculpture is the artist's second public installation in Sweden and will be inaugurated on 2 June at 1 pm by HRH Prince Daniel.

Read the press release here.

Photo: Álex Iturralde. © Cristina Iglesias, VEGAP, Madrid, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.