One hundred finalist works hailing from twenty-eight nations will vie for the honors of the 2026 Tartget Prize.
World-Class Jury
Californian artist Jacob Dhein, a leading light of contemporary figurative painting, will grace Daimiel on Wednesday, September 2. Joining him is Aranzazu Martínez from Vitoria, director of the Atelier Madrid academy and the sole Spanish artist to claim the prestigious Best in Show at New York’s ARC Salon. She will preside over the jury.
If only two Spanish masters bear the coveted title of “Pastel Master,” one sits on the Tartget Prize panel: Aurelio Rodríguez serves as the third member of this distinguished board. Returning alongside him are the Cádiz-born artist María Lisazo and the acclaimed La Mancha landscape painter Fermín García Sevilla, whose anthological exhibition currently opens at the Casa de las Artes y las Letras in Tomelloso.
Completing the jury are Emilio Gil — president of the Visual Arts section at the Ateneo de Madrid, former designer of the poster for the Oscar-winning film Belle Époque, and creator of the Prado Museum’s bicentennial campaign—and Daimiel artist Juan Francisco Gómez Cambronero, director of the Tartget Prize and finalist at both the ARC Salon in New York and Barcelona’s ModPortrait.
In a Truly Singular Setting
The Espacio Fisac forms the pulsing heart of Daimiel’s historic Abastos Market—a true architectural jewel among 20th-century functional design. The soft natural light bathing the courtyard conceived by Miguel Fisac will cascade down from the dome onto the 100 masterworks, as they are presented in sequence before the long table of the assembled jury set upon the stage.
In the initial round, the judges will cast their votes to approve or dismiss each piece by a show of hands. As the process of elimination deepens, easels will be arranged across the hall to showcase the 15 to 20 finalist works vying for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Tartget 2026, the Watercolor and Drawing Tartget awards, and the Fusion Tartget honoring the finest abstract and conceptual collage piece.
The official verdict will be signed and sealed before 3:00 p.m. In the days following, the winning works will be unveiled across Tartget Prize’s social media channels and official website.
Twenty-Eight Nations Represented
Works bearing the signatures of artists from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina will journey to Daimiel. From Asia, creations arrive from Dubai, China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Visitors will also behold an oil on canvas from Australia, though the largest contingent among the Top 100 finalists hail from Europe: French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, British, and, naturally, Spanish masters.
Masterpieces representing twenty-eight nations converge for an edition that, in its preliminary phase, gathered nearly 2,100 submissions from painters spanning eighty-five nationalities. These are the striking figures of a competition that, far from merely establishing itself in its second edition, has broadened its footprint on the international stage—introducing new technical awards for watercolor and drawing, alongside four 12-day artistic residencies in the Tablas de Daimiel National Park.
