For Photo Walk Nº85, we spent the morning at the "Museo Nacional de Arte" (MUNAL) in the Centro Histórico where we learned some tips for taking more interesting photos in a museum. The key is to look for a variety of images and pay special attention to composition and details.The museum is housed in the former "Palacio de Comunicaciones", a building of neoclassical eclectic style, with Manuel Tolsa's equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain standing in the square outside the front of the museum. The rather stern grey exterior hides an unexpectedly elegant interior, complete with sweeping staircase, intricate metalwork and spectacular paintings on the ceilings. Porfirio Diaz wanted to turn Mexico City into the Paris of Latin America and commissioned an Italian architect to design the building which was to epitomize modernity and progress. The elegant reception hall was where he made public statements and received dignitaries from other countries.The Museum's permanent collection includes Mexican artists and their work ranging from the mid 16th Century to the mid 19th Century, divided into three periods: the Colonial period, the first century after Mexican Independence and the period from the Mexican Revolution to the 1950s. They also periodically host temporary exhibitions such as the one we saw: Saturnino Herrán and other modernists. We all came away with a collection of photos quite different from the others but which was much more interesting than just a series of paintings and sculptures. And some of us were wondering why it had taken us so long to visit this spectacular museum which often isn't included in the top sites to visit in Mexico City.
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Margaret MetcalfeBorn to travel, explore and share photos and experiences Archives
May 2019
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