See the first UK exhibition of Mexico’s much-loved artist, José María Velasco, ends August 17, 2025. The first monographic exhibition in the UK devoted to José María Velasco (1840–1912), Mexico’s most celebrated 19th-century painter, at the National Gallery José María Velasco: A View of Mexico, the first ever dedicated to a Latin American artist at the National Gallery, coincides with the 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Mexico. And it celebrates Velasco’s place among the great 19th-century landscape painters.
José María Velasco is famed for his monumental paintings of the Valle de México, the area surrounding Mexico City, the nation’s capital. Painted during decades of tremendous social change, his precise yet lyrical works depicted Mexico’s magnificent scenery and rapid industrialization.
The exhibition will also make links between Velasco’s work and paintings in the Gallery’s collection, particularly Édouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian (1867–8), which depicts the execution of the Austrian ruler imposed on Mexico. These will invite visitors to consider how 19th-century painters beyond Europe explored colonialism, industrialization, and the effects of modernity on the natural world. The exhibition will also address broader concerns about the relationship between human beings and the environment, seen through the lens of late 19th-century painters that addressed extraordinary ecological change, a theme that still resonates today.
Velasco, working in Mexico in the 19th century, was a man of many interests. He was fascinated by advances in geology, the archaeology of his home country, the study of local flora, and the increasing presence of industrialization.
He painted the sweeping landscapes of the Valley of Mexico, the home of modern-day Mexico City, with exquisite detail. His impressive panoramic views of the valley reveal allusions to Mexico’s historic past and its rapidly modernizing present.
Velasco was keenly aware of his country’s industrialization, capturing expanding train lines and factories alongside botanically accurate studies of plants. His scientific eye inspired his art, and his love of geology is clear to see in his detailed depictions of rocks and volcanoes.
Exhibition organized by the National Gallery and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Curated by Dexter Dalwood and Daniel Sobrino Ralston, the National Gallery’s CEEH Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings, from an initial concept by Dexter Dalwood.
National Portrait Gallery London closes 17 August 2025
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