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Madrid, Feb 9 (EFE).- The 25th edition of Madrid's International Contemporary Art Fair kicked off Thursday, with this year's event featuring works by renowned 20th century painters Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and Antoni Tapies as well as other forms of artistic expression.
The Spanish monarchs, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, were among the visitors who walked along the two pavilions of the IFEMA fairgrounds set aside for the event, which includes the participation of more than 3,000 artists from 35 countries.
This year's edition of the fair, known commonly as ARCO, features more than 15,000 square meters (161,000 square feet) of exhibition space and close to 300 galleries - including 191 dedicated to foreign art. Austria is represented as special guest at ARCO '06, which, according to the organization, is opening at a time when the art market "is enjoying its best moment in the past 20 years."
The first ARCO fair in 1982 attracted some 25,000 people, while in 2006 organizers expect the number of visitors to surpass the 180,000 who attended last year. EFE
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