SFAQ - On Beauty in Mexico: Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo at Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
June 26- September 27, 2015 (Michelangelo)
June 26 – August 23, 2015 (da Vinci)
Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes
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Av. Juárez, Centro Histórico, 06050 Ciudad de México, D.F., Mexico
It may sound like a dusty snooze through Intro to Art History for anyone living in London, New York, or Paris, but Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo have come to Mexico City, and it’s a very big deal.
The blockbuster conjoined-twin exhibitions have smashed museum attendance records in Mexico and the historical significance of bringing these two artists’ work to Latin America for the first time makes this a trophy event for Palacio de Bellas Artes, the nation’s most important cultural center.

These exhibits are a grand coup of international cultural diplomacy and logistics, supporting the claim that, at least for the arts, this is the “Mexican Moment”. Though the works on display are comparatively “travel-friendly” compared to Michelangelo’s David or da Vinci’s Last Supper, exhibitions of this scale represent no small feat of coordination. Imagine the insurance, and conservation alone for irreplaceable and spectacularly fragile 500-year-old works on paper. Not to mention the complexities of shipping the five-foot tall marble Cristo Portacroce… yet, as a researcher for the exhibition explained, it only took a year and a half to organize!

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