Every year, in November, Queen Sofia of Spain awards one of the most prestigious artistic prizes: the BMW Painting and Digital Art Prize. Queen Sofia discovered the finalist works while visiting an exhibition, then presented the prize to this year's winning artists. In the evening, Princess Irene joined her sister to attend the traditional show organized in honor of this prize.
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BMW Painting and Digital Art Prize Presentation by Queen Sofia
The BMW Painting and Digital Art Prize supports art and culture with an annual prize, which has established itself over the years as one of the most important artistic awards. Every year in November, Queen Sofia of Spain is responsible for presenting the prize.
This November 18, 2024, Queen Sofia, 86 years old, went to the Teatro Real to present the prize, never wishing to break with traditions. Before the ceremony, Queen Sofia visited the finalists' exhibition. This year, the competition broke its record by receiving more than 1,700 entries, including 1,524 in the painting category and 241 in the digital art category. We are approaching 45% of productions by female artists, which is also a record.
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After a rigorous selection process, the jury selected the 12 finalist works, of which 8 competed for the BMW Painting Prize and 4 for the BMW Digital Art Prize. The artists come from all over the world and this year, the organizers have listed 39 different nationalities.
After admiring the works of the 12 finalists, Queen Sofia joined the main room of the Teatro Real to announce the awarding of the prizes to the winners. The session began with the speech of Miguel Zugaza, representing the jury, and the director of communications and institutional relations of BMW Group Spain. They read the report designating the two winners. Queen Sofia presented the BMW Prize for Painting to Damaris Pan for her work “All monsters are human II” and the BMW Prize for Digital Art was awarded to Serafín Álvarez for her work “Spell”.
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Princess Irene joins Queen Sofia to attend charity and musical gala
After the awards ceremony, the traditional charity concert takes place. This concert is given in honor of the awards ceremony and for the benefit of an association. Princess Irene of Greece, younger sister of Queen Sofia, never fails to attend this concert. Once again, Princess Irene sat next to her sister in the royal box to attend this concert by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christoph König, who performed Beethoven's “Ninth Symphony”. This work by Beethoven symbolizes brotherhood, hope and solidarity.
The profits from the charity concert will be donated this year to the Food Banks of Spain. The BMW group itself is donating 25,000 euros to the cause, in addition to the money raised by the patrons present at this gala. Exceptionally, at the same time, the BMW group has decided to pay 500,000 euros to the Queen Sofia Foundation which has set up a specific program which will help support the victims of the Valencia floods.
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