José María Velasco: A View of Mexico

The first UK exhibition of Mexico’s much-loved artist, José María Velasco.

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 industrialisation.

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 modernising present.

Velasco was keenly aware of his country’s industrialisation, 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.

This exhibition, the first ever dedicated to a historical Latin American artist at the National Gallery, marks the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the UK. And it celebrates Velasco’s place among the great 19th-century landscape painters.

Exhibition organised 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.

Lead image: José María Velasco, The Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Santa Isabel (1877), Museo Nacional de Arte, INBAL, Mexico City
Image: Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City © Reproduction authorised by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura