Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes celebrates its 90th anniversary

The Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum in Mexico City, one of Mexico’s iconic symbols for arts and culture, is celebrating its 90th anniversary with a series of special events. From a mariachi performance to a light show, conferences, exhibitions and more, the activities aim to celebrate one of the country’s most important cultural venues.

Located in the Historic Center of Mexico City next to the Alameda Central Park, Palacio de Bellas Artes opened its doors on Sept. 29, 1934. The palace museum, originally called the Museum of Plastic Arts, opened two months later.

Celebra el 90 aniversario del Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes ✨✨✨✨
Del martes 📅 26 al sábado 30 de noviembre 2024.

Acompáñanos en una programación especial, en el marco de nueve décadas de historia.

¡Te esperamos! pic.twitter.com/8LEMhHbp4G

— Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (@mbellasartes) November 16, 2024

Initially known as the Museum of Fine Arts, it was the first art museum in Mexico to showcase artistic objects for public appreciation. 

 Today, the museum stands out for its permanent collection, which comprises 18 works by renowned Mexican artists such as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and other famed muralists of the early 20th century. Their large-format murals decorate the museum’s walls and reflect social and political issues of the time. 

 Since 1968, the museum’s exhibition halls have been dubbed the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts.

Bellas Artes 90th anniversary events

The celebration will take place in the museum’s mural area, and will include the following events:

Tuesday, Nov. 26 

The round of events will kick off at 6:00 p.m., with the talk “Alan Glass, Surrealism and the Cosmic Egg.” The talk, which relates to the museum’s current Alan Glass exhibit, is organized by two of the exhibition’s co-curators: U.S. art historian Abigail Susik and Xavier de la Riva, who will discuss the symbol of the egg as an innate entity for surrealism and its presence in Alan Glass’s works.

Wednesday, Nov. 27 

The Youth Institute’s Big Band Jazz, featuring young people from different municipalities of Mexico City, will give a concert performing jazz songs and covers of popular songs. The event starts at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 28 

• At 6 p.m., a talk titled “To Conjugate in the Future,” will explore the museum’s future and its relationship with art, culture and communities.
• At 7 p.m., the museum’s architecture coordinator, Vera Rosenblueth, will present a light show that will illuminate murals in the museum’s permanent collection.

Friday, Nov. 29

• At 12 p.m., the improvisation group ensemble 2ConbajoS will perform an interactive show with the public.
• The Mariachi Real de Jalisco and the Chorus of the Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández will perform at 4:00 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 30

To wrap up, the Buenrostro Group, which combines a variety of musical genres including traditional sounds of jarochos, cumbias, and sambas mixed with rock and jazz, will perform at 4:00 p.m.

 In addition to these events, attendees can visit the museum’s several expositions, including the photographic exposition “90 years of the Palace of Fine Arts: Memory of art and architecture.”  

About the Palacio de Bellas Artes 

 The Palace of Bellas Artes was designed by Italian architect Adamo Boari, the same man who designed the Palacio de Correos (the Mail Palace) in the city’s Historic Center. Besides its distinct architecture, the Palacio de Bellas Artes is renowned for the glass curtain of its theater, which depicts the Popocatépetl volcano and the Iztaccíhuatl mountain. The curtain was crafted by the Tiffany Studios in New York.

The venue, also home to the Arts and Literature Ministry of Mexico (INBAL), has hosted performances by great national and international artists, including opera singers, orchestras and various children’s theater productions. It has also been the site of historic moments, such as the fundraising campaign to settle the debt from the expropriation of the oil industry, and Miguel Alemán’s inauguration as president.

With reports from Infobae