Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg

Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg discovered the mesmerizing kinetic art of Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez, and Julio Le Parc in Caracas in the late 1970s. Their experiments with movement and color captured her imagination and sparked a passion that would grow into one of the most remarkable private collections of Latin American art.

Born in Caracas, Tanya grew up in the family of publishing entrepreneur Miguel Ángel Capriles and graduated in journalism in 1974. She began collecting works that spoke to her personally, eventually building a collection of over 1,000 pieces, with a specific interest in geometric, concrete, and kinetic art.

In 2009, she placed much of her collection on a long-term loan at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which presented more than 100 pieces in a 2013 exhibition featuring artists such as Diego Rivera, Wifredo Lam and Armando Reverón.

© Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg

Tanya has also devoted much of her life to helping children with cancer. In 1984, she helped establish Venezuela’s Fundación Amigos del Niño con Cáncer. Seven years later, she organized a benefit concert with Plácido Domingo to help fund Mi Casita, a shelter where families could stay while their children received treatment in Caracas.

After moving to Miami in 2003, she founded SaludArte, bringing music, dance, and visual arts into hospitals, schools, and correctional facilities. The foundation later expanded to Spain and Venezuela, including a children’s opera initiative with Madrid’s Teatro Real.

In October 2025, she participated in a collectors’ conversation series at Madrid's Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, discussing the importance of collecting and sharing contemporary art.

© Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg

This year, the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California, honored her with the LEGADO Award for Philanthropy in the Arts. The celebration coincided with the opening of Concrete Forms: A Look at the Brillembourg-Capriles Collection, curated by Adolfo Wilson and Gabriela Urtiaga. Featuring works by nearly 40 artists, including Gego, Lygia Clark, Soto and Cruz-Diez, the exhibition brings her collection to new audiences.

At the gala, Tanya reflected on the importance of art and how one collection can shed light on the political, social, and economic history of a country. It's a philosophy that has guided much of her life. Through the art she preserves and the communities she supports, she continues to find ways of sharing what matters most to her. For Tanya, the greatest value of art may be what happens when it leaves a private collection and becomes part of someone else’s life.