From the magazine

Why was this fêted Mexican painter left out of the canon?

It’s to the National Gallery’s great credit that it’s championing Jose Maria Velasco, a little-known polymath whose quietly complex paintings encapsulate his native land

Joanna Moorhead
‘The Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Santa Isabel’, 1877, by Jose Maria Velasco © REPRODUCCIÓN AUTORIZADA POR EL INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES Y LITERATURA. PHOTO: FRANCISCO KOCHEN
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 22 March 2025
issue 22 March 2025

Think of a Mexican painting, and chances are you’ll conjure up an image of an eyebrow-knitted Frida Kahlo, or a riot of exotic figures by her husband Diego Rivera, or a brightly coloured guitarist by Rufino Tamayo. What you’re unlikely to have in mind is an earthy landscape with a dusty road leading to a nascent city, dotted with hyper-real plant life, and an eagle soaring under a vast, cloudy sky.

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