José María Velasco: A View of Mexico Exhibition Catalogue

Special Gallery price £20.00 - RRP: £25.00

Accompanies the exhibition at the National Gallery, London, 29 March–17 August 2025, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, 27 September 2025–4 January 2026.

One of Mexico’s most celebrated artists, José María Velasco (1840–1912) is renowned for his depictions of the country’s magnificent scenery, complex history and rapid industrialisation. Fascinated by the beauty and variety of the Mexican landscape, he dedicated his career to capturing its mountains, lakes and distinctive flora in exquisite detail, most famously in his monumental representations of the Valley of Mexico. 

Velasco was an accomplished botanist and geologist, and his artistic practice was profoundly shaped by his curiosity about the natural world. From vast canvases to intricate drawings for scientific journals, he channelled his knowledge of contemporary science into his work. This fully illustrated book provides a fresh appraisal of the artist, celebrating his place among the great nineteenth-century landscape painters.

Authors

Dexter Dalwood is an artist and curator.

Daniel Sobrino Ralston is CEEH Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery, London.

With contributions by Dawn Ades, María Elena Altamirano Piolle, Pablo Arredondo Vera, Omar Olivares Sandoval and Valéria Piccoli.