20th-21st Century Spanish

After completing a degree in Chemistry in San Sebastian, in 1980 Iglesias moved to London to enrol at the Chelsea School of Art, where she studied sculpture and ceramics until 1982. In that period her work gradually moved towards more open installations, leaving aside the that defined her initial phase. In London she met the fellow sculptor Juan Muñoz (1953-2001), who would become her husband.

In 1995 she was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. In 1999 Iglesias was distinguished with Spain’s National Visual Arts Prize. A sculpture and printmaker, she is one of the most successful Spanish artists over the last few decades.

Her work first came to public attention in the early 1980s, when it was selected for an exhibition at Fundación La Caixa. Meanwhile, in 1984 she presented her first solo shows: at Galería Juana de Aizpuru in Madrid; at Casa del Bocage in Setubal; and at Galeria Cósmicos in Lisbon. Two years later Iglesias represented Spain at the Venice Biennale. From that moment onwards, her output has been constant and recognised by museums, galleries and collections worldwide. She first took part in a museum group show in 1985, at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven. Since then the artist has exhibited in some of the most important contemporary art museums in the world. The exhibition organised by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1997 also added to her growing celebrity.

In 2001 she was presented with the Visual Arts Prize at the 3rd Observatorio D’Achtall Awards. Six years later, breaking a prolonged period of silence, she made a comeback at Galería Pepe Cobo and Galería Elba Benítez. That same year she created the door-sculpture for the extension of the Prado museum in Madrid.

At the beginning of 2013 the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía put in place one of the most ambitious mid-career surveys held of the artist’s work to date. In the last few years she has lived and worked in Torrelodones, near Madrid. She represented Spain at the 2000 Hannover Expo and at the Taipei Biennial 2002 and at the 2006 Santa Fe Biennial.