The holdings of the Telefónica Collection comprise more than 2,000 modern and contemporary works of art. Within this large holding the Cubist Collection is considered the flagship due to its unquestionable historic and artistic value. The collection had its beginnings in the eighties when Telefónica acquired eleven of Juan Gris' works as part of a "salvage" operation of a group of internationally recognised Spanish artists who were, however, poorly represented in private and public collections in Spain.
Aware of the fundamental role of Juan Gris in the development of cubism and the importance of this movement as the driving force behind visual modernity, between 2003 and 2004 Telefónica decided to acquire a group of the works of Spanish, European and Latin American artists who had explored the various expressive paths arising in the context of cubism and from the central figure of Juan Gris. Within this chronicle the relationship between Gris and Latin American creators and their vital contribution to the development of cubism took on special relevance. Names not yet sufficiently well known such as Joaquín Torres-García, Rafael Barradas and Emilio Pettoruti are gathered in the Telefónica Collection and point towards a new vision of modernity which ineluctably takes Latin American art into account.
As a result of this endeavour, Telefónica has collected an ensemble of 43 works dating from between 1913 and 1933 by artists fundamental to the understanding of cubism beyond the achievements of Braque and Picasso. Under the title of Cubism and its Context in the Telefónica Collections this exhibition has been visited by more than half a million people in seven European and Latin American countries. The National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona, the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires, the Sao Paulo Art Gallery and the Museum of Ixelles in Brussels are some of the galleries which have hosted the collection with great critical and public acclaim.