Fundación Yannick i Ben Jakober

The Fundación Yannick i Ben Jakober is a non-profit cultural institution located in l'Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain. Established in 1993, it operates primarily within the Balearic Islands with a mission dedicated to the preservation and restoration of Spanish historical heritage, alongside the promotion of fine arts including painting and sculpture. The foundation has gained particular recognition for its specialized collection of Old Master portraits of children from the 16th to the 19th centuries, which has been designated as Historical Heritage. Its headquarters, the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum, occupies a distinctive building designed by Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in 1978, declared a Listed Building by the Heritage Commission of the Government of Mallorca in 2011.

The foundation was created in 1993 by the artist couple Yannick Vu and Ben Jakober, with the support of their friend, banker and philanthropist Georges Coulon Karlweis. Yannick Vu, born in France to a Vietnamese father and French mother, grew up in Vence and Saint-Paul de Vence in a family connected to the visual arts and music. She married Italian painter Domenico Gnoli, with whom she traveled to Mallorca in the same year of their marriage; Gnoli died in 1970 at age 36, already having achieved international success. In 1972, Vu married Ben Jakober, who was born in Vienna to a family of Hungarian bourgeois art dealers and collectors of Impressionist art, and who spent his childhood and youth in Great Britain. Jakober began his artistic activity at age forty-five, encouraged by Vu, and gradually focused on sculpture, working in materials including polyurethane, metal, stone, marble, installation, video, and eventually fiber optics. Since 1992, the couple has worked and signed their pieces jointly, as a single artistic entity. The foundation is fully autonomous and its governing board includes Marie-Claire Yannick Jakober as President, Benedict Peter Benjamin Jakober as Secretary, and other members including Anthonie Stal as Vice President.

The foundation's holdings span multiple thematic areas. The core is the Nins Collection, comprising over 150 portraits of children from the 16th through 19th centuries, originating from various European countries. These works predominantly depict royalty and nobility in childhood, though some represent bourgeois subjects or members of minor provincial European courts. The collection offers material for studying the evolution of children's clothing, accessories, toys, and daily life objects. Many works were commissioned to be sent to European courts in connection with prospective unions, forming part of complex networks of political and familial alliances designed to secure dynastic continuity through engagement and marriage. Beyond the Nins Collection, the foundation maintains a contemporary art program featuring sculptures, paintings, and installations by internationally renowned and local artists; an ethnographic collection containing masks and sculptures from Africa and Asia; and a sculpture park integrating works by artists such as Eduardo Chillida and François-Xavier Lalanne into the natural landscape. The foundation also conducts an international temporary exhibition program, with works having traveled to institutions including the Fundaçao Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia in 2000, the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn in 2003-2004, the Museo de Belas Artes da Coruña in 2004, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville in 2004-2005, the State Historical Museum in Moscow in 2005-2006, and various United States venues in 2008 including the Columbus Museum of Art, the Huntsville Museum of Art, and The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida. Later venues included the Kunsthalle Krems in 2011, the Pera Museum in Istanbul in 2012, and the Casa del Cordón in Burgos in 2013.

The Nins Collection stands as the foundation's signature holding. It was initiated more than forty years ago with Joan Mestre i Bosch's painting Retrato de una niña con cerezas. The collection has been declared Bien Catalogado del Patrimonio Histórico, a formal heritage designation in Spain. The works are of recognized international standing and originate principally from France, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. The collection is permanently displayed in a specially adapted space, allowing continuous public access to these historically significant portraits.

The foundation is headquartered at the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum, situated on the historic Finca Sa Bassa Blanca on the peninsula of La Victòria near Alcúdia. The property originated as a Mallorcan country house built in the 17th century, devoted to agriculture and livestock breeding of native species. During the Spanish Civil War and continuing until the 1970s, the estate served as a military base due to its strategic position between sea and mountain. In 1978, the finca was acquired by a consortium including Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu, who commissioned Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (1900-1989) to design the main building, making Sa Bassa Blanca his sole construction in Europe. The building was conceived as a ribat, with its dependencies organized around a central courtyard inspired by Granada. Most construction elements are antique materials sourced from Andalusia and Morocco, giving the complex a Hispano-Moorish character appropriate to Mallorca's diverse civilizational history. The structure was declared a Listed Building (Landmark) by the Heritage Commission of the Government of Mallorca in 2011. The site is fully integrated into protected nature, declared a biological reserve.

The Fundación Yannick i Ben Jakober is located in l'Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain, within the Balearic Islands. The Sa Bassa Blanca Museum is open to visitors year-round. Guided tours are offered in multiple languages. The foundation actively engages in art and environmental education, regularly conducting workshops, guided visits, and special programs for children and youth, in collaboration with schools and universities to promote awareness of art and culture. The institution also hosts special events and temporary exhibitions. The foundation maintains its website at http://www.fundacionjakober.org.