The exhibition 'El beso de la muerte. Representaciones mortuorias en el arte y la cultura visual del siglo XIX' invites the public to immerse in the duality of death as a fearsome enemy and everyday presence in that era. Curated by Luis Gómez Mata at the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, it features nearly 180 pieces addressing illness, mourning, and funeral rites. It opens days before Día de Muertos, linking past and present.
The exhibition is structured in several thematic nuclei that unfold the tension between fear and seduction toward death in the 19th century. In the first nucleus, 'Antesala de la muerte', jars of ether and chloroform are displayed alongside illustrated medical books, highlighting the inhumane hospital conditions without antibiotics or modern anesthesia, where any illness was nearly synonymous with death.
The second nucleus, 'Cara a cara con la muerte', confronts visitors with the inevitability of fate through works like the painting 'El espejo que no te engaña' (1856) by Tomás Mondragón, depicting bodily decomposition, and symbols such as scissors cutting the thread of life, evoking Greco-Latin traditions.
In 'La muerte retratada', the third nucleus, photography, wax sculptures, and paintings preserve the memory of the deceased. Curator Luis Gómez Mata explains: “Tomar una fotografía era quizá la única oportunidad de llevarte un recuerdo de un ser amado”. Highlights include images like Josefa San Román's painting of her sister Juliana recovering from tuberculosis, and depictions of 'angelitos', dead children symbolizing hope of resurrection, alongside intimate objects like lockets of hair and buttons with photos.
The nucleus 'Los lugares de la memoria' explores mourning rites with marble tombstones, funerary sculptures, and mourning fashion, culminating in an epitaph from the Panteón de La Piedad: “Lejos de los ojos, pero cerca del corazón”. Inspired by the sculpture in Barcelona's Poble Nou cemetery, where a skeleton kisses a young man, the show condenses the pain, resignation, and spirituality toward death.
Featuring pieces from public and private collections, including a striking 1851 painting of a biblical flood from the museum's collection, the exhibition dialogues with Mexican death culture, especially in the Día de Muertos context. Events like Noche de Museos will complement visits at the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, located at México Tenochtitlan 50, Tabacalera neighborhood.