01 de Dec 2004 - 30 de Apr 2005
With the exhibition El espejo simbolista. Europa y México. 1870-1920, the Museo Nacional de Arte decided to undertake an honest and open dialogue between Mexican art and its European contemporaries. This dialogue, that was profoundly enriching, began by the movement known as Symbolism. The exhibition showed fascinating analogies and correlations between the artworks of Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes, Edvard Munch, Aubrey Beardsley, Burne-Jones and Odilon Redon, among others, with the works of Mexican artists like Diego Rivera, Julio Ruelas, Roberto Montenegro, Saturnino Herrán, Germán Gedovius, Fidencio Nava or Ángel Zárraga.
It was possible to appreciate that the Mexican artworks that form the permanent collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte, as well as private collections and museums of our country are nourished by a new expressive dimension achieved by contrasting them with European artworks. These artworks came from more than 40 museums and private collections of Spain, France, Belgium, Austria, the United States, Holland, Great Britain, Poland, Italy, and Mexico.