MUNAL The National Art Museum

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In the last few years, the National Art Museum (Museo Nacional de Arte or MUNAL) has become the best place to get a complete panorama of Mexican pictorial and sculptural art, from Mexico’s Colonial period to the early years of the 20^th century. Besides being easily accessible, it is very near other sites of interest in Mexico City’s Historical Downtown.

Visit Mexico City´s National Art Museum. Get to know it, buy the video and download it now.

The National Art Museum holds and showcases a permanent collection of works of fine art, divided in three historical periods, synthesizing the history of Mexican art up to the first half of the 20^th century. These include: Assimilation of the West, 1550-1821; Construction of a New Nation; and Strategies through Plastic Arts for a New Nation.

The MUNAL has been located in the old building of the Secretary of Communications and Public Works since 1982. This building was designed by the Italian architect Silvio Contri, and was completed in 1911. It is located in front of the Palace of the School of Mining, with the Manuel Tolsá Plaza between both of them.

The National Museum of Art, the style of which is eclectic but predominantly neoclassic, is characterized by various decorative elements, including the ironwork and stonework ornaments. There are also paintings, crystals, doors and stucco-work designed and made by the artist Mariano Coppedé. Valuable works of art of Colonial painters such as Juan Correa, Juan Francisco de Aguilera, Rafael Ximeno y Planes, Miguel Cabrera and Luis Lagarto, among others, can be found here.

There are also paintings, sketches and sculptures of the first period of Independence of artists such as Pedro Patiño and José María Labastida, among others, as well as artists from the mid-19^th century such as Juan Cordero, Casimiro Castro, Joaquín Ramírez, José María Velasco, Eugenio Landesio, Juan Bellido, Luis Coto, among others. Finally, there are works by artists that were active from the beginning of the 20^th century to the 1950s including Saturnino Herrán, Ángel Zárraga, Germán Gedovius, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Leopodo Méndez, Agustín Lazo, Diego Rivera, Julio Castellanos, Manuel Rodríguez Lozano.

This great collection of Mexican national art was created starting with the pictorial collection of the National Institute of Fine Arts, the Academy of San Carlos, the Viceregal Picture Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art.

The National Museum of Art holds workshops aimed at artistic development, summer courses and concerts. It also includes an academic program to encourage the study of the works that form part of the permanent collection, through courses headed by recognized academics and in coordination with various institutions.

Visit the MUNAL on Tacuba Street # 8, in the Historic Downtown of Mexico City.

Hours: 10:00am – 18:00 hrs, with free access on Sundays. Vistor Guides are available.

Buy the video and download it now on your PC/Mac/Tablet/Smart Phone. In this video:

-An emblematic museum of Mexico City

-Get to know the architecture, contents and surroundings

-Excellent quality and content of images, with universal mp-4 format, and lasting 3:40 minutes.

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