Exhibition "So far, so close. Guadalupe of Mexico in Spain"

10 June 2025 – 14 September 2025

The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe spread widely between 1650 and 1790, becoming a key religious symbol in Spain, Italy, the Philippines and Latin America. It was regarded as a miraculous image, whose beauty and technique were seen as proof of divine favour towards the inhabitants of New Spain. It was the most frequently reproduced and copied image by artists in New Spain and was associated with the idea of a “revealed icon”. The exhibition explores its circulation in Spain, the promotion of the cult in the Early Modern period, the relationship between the Virgin of Guadalupe of Extremadura and her Mexican counterpart, and the role played by artists in disseminating the image. It presents around 70 works, most of them from Spain and Mexico, including prints produced in Madrid and Seville.

Curators:

Jaime Cuadriello, Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and researcher at the Institute of Aesthetic Research (Mexico); and Paula Mues, Professor at the National School of Conservation, Restoration and Museology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico.