Juan de Flandes - The Baptism of Christ - WGA12036

Juan Abelló Gallo (born 1941) is a Spanish businessman and art collector. In March 2021, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' estimated his wealth at $3 billion. In 2023, ''CEO World Magazine'' ranked him as the seventh-richest person in Spain, with an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion.

Early life

Juan Abelló was born in 1941 in Madrid, the son of a pharmacist father, Juan Abello Pascual. He has a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid (1963), and a doctorate in pharmacy (1978) from

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

Career

In 1966 Abelló was appointed Managing Director of Antibióticos, S.A., the family group founded by his pharmacist father, Juan Abello Pascual, in 1919. The company had obtained the first licence in Spain in 1934 to manufacture

opioid Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...

-derived medication. In 1986, he led the disposal of Antibióticos and other family pharma assets (maintaining Alergia e Inmunología Abelló, S.A. and Alcaloides, S.A.) to

Montedison Edison S.p.A. is an Italian electric utility company headquartered in Milan. The company was established in 1884 and acquired by Electricité de France in 2012. Edison employs more than 5,000 people in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. ...

. In 1990, he founded Torreal, a family-owned global investment firm with more than 25 portfolio companies, diversified across various segments and geographies. In 2013, through Torreal, he invested in Investindustrial which controlled 37.5% of the automobile manufacturer

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC () is a British manufacturer of Luxury car, luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Headed from 1947 by David Brown (entrepreneur ...

. In 2018, through Torreal and in a joint-venture with the British investment fund GHO, Abelló started the company of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

-derived products Linneo Health. In 2018, he named his son Miguel Abelló Gamazo executive vice-president of Torreal, and then president of the company in 2020.

Art collector

Abelló owns about 500 works of art, including pieces by

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Toulouse-Lautrec ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful an ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

, and

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

. Abello owns one of the last large triptychs painted by

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

, ''Triptych 1983'' (1983), and a small triptych by Bacon, ''Three Studies for a Portrait of Peter Beard'' (1975).

Personal life

Abelló is married to Ana Isabel Gamazo y Hohenlohe-Langenburg, grand-daughter of Prince Max Egon of

Hohenlohe-Langenburg Hohenlohe-Langenburg () was a German county and later principality in the Holy Roman Empire. It was located around Langenburg in what is now northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Starting in medieval times and continuing until 1806, this smal ...

. They have four children. He is an avid deer hunter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abello, Juan 1941 births Living people Spanish art collectors Spanish billionaires 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish businesspeople Businesspeople from Madrid Complutense University of Madrid alumni Members of the Board of Directors of the Banco Santander