Tan lejos, tan cerca. Guadalupe de México en España exhibition

When, according to tradition, the Virgin appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in 1531, no one imagined that centuries later her image would occupy walls in churches, private collections and museums on the other side of the ocean. The exhibition traces that unexpected journey, bringing together around seventy pieces, including paintings, sculptures, engravings and texts, which show how this American devotion also took root on Spanish soil.

The exhibition has been designed by experts Jaime Cuadriello and Paula Mues Orts, who have structured the route into eleven thematic sections, from visual connections with European icons to the mass dissemination of the Guadalupan image throughout Spain. It addresses subjects as varied as the reinterpretation of the cloak, iconographic variations, and the way in which the Virgin became a shared symbol in both worlds. Among the artists represented are key names of New Spanish Baroque such as Miguel Cabrera, Juan Correa and Manuel de Arellano, who here enter into dialogue with major Prado painters such as Zurbarán and Velázquez. The result is not a simple devotional chronology, but a conversation between styles, territories and sensibilities that shows how art can cross oceans and acquire new meanings over time.

This exhibition is not only an opportunity to see exceptional works, but also to reflect on the circulation of images, beliefs and identities between America and Europe. And at the centre of it all, a figure that continues to generate questions, emotions and new perspectives.