The National Museum of Art (MUNAL) has opened a new permanent exhibition celebrating the artistic legacy of the Academy of San Carlos, the main school of painting and sculpture in the 19th century in Mexico. Under the title "Mexican art of the 19th century" the exhibition brings together 60 works including oil paintings, sculptures and lithographs, highlighting the pieces that helped build the imaginary of a modern and independent Mexico.
One of the most emblematic works is The Torment of Cuauhtémoc (1893), by Leandro Izaguirre, a monumental painting that portrays the last Aztec tlatoani bravely facing the Spanish conquerors. The scene, of great nationalist symbolism, represents the indigenous resistance against the invasion and is considered one of the largest and most significant works in the museum.
The exhibition also highlights other key pieces, such as Tlahuicole, a sculpture by Manuel Vilar that represents a Tlaxcalan leader in a heroic act. Vilar, a Spanish sculptor who settled in Mexico in the mid-19th century, fused classical European aesthetics with indigenous physiognomy, creating a unique style that reflected the ideals of the new nation.
The MUNAL curators explain that the Academy of San Carlos played a fundamental role in the construction of the national imaginary after independence, focusing on the representation of Mexico's founding myths, such as the exaltation of indigenous heroes and the pre-Hispanic past. Works by artists such as Félix Parra and Rodrigo Gutiérrez, which portray scenes of the conquest and the Congress of Tlaxcala, reinforce this narrative of resistance and affirmation of national identity.
The MUNAL curators explain that the Academy of San Carlos played a fundamental role in the construction of the national imaginary after independence, focusing on the representation of Mexico's founding myths, such as the exaltation of indigenous heroes and the pre-Hispanic past. Works by artists such as Félix Parra and Rodrigo Gutiérrez, which portray scenes of the conquest and the Congress of Tlaxcala, reinforce this narrative of resistance and affirmation of national identity.
The renovated 19th-century art gallery at the MUNAL thus becomes a space to reflect on the creation of a free and sovereign Mexico, which, apart from its viceregal past, seeks in its pre-Columbian roots the foundation of its new identity. The exhibition invites the public to explore how these artists, through their brushes and sculptures, gave visual form to a nation that, through myths and allegories, managed to establish its historical and cultural memory.
The exhibition also illustrates the efforts of the Academy's artists to transform the official narrative, moving away from religious and monarchical themes, to focus on the great pre-Hispanic civilizations and the republican values of a young, free nation proud of its origins. Thus, with this new proposal, the MUNAL reaffirms its commitment to the rescue and dissemination of the art that has shaped modern Mexico.