Curator Talk: “José María Velasco: A View of Mexico”
Join us for a conversation about José María Velasco (1840–1912), one of the greatest 19th-century landscape painters in the Americas.
The event celebrates the opening of “José María Velasco: A View of Mexico,” organized by Mia and the National Gallery, London. Valéria Piccoli, Mia’s Ken and Linda Cutler Chair of the Arts of the Americas and Curator of Latin American Art, will be joined by Dexter Dalwood and Daniel Sobrino Ralston, curators of the exhibition in London. Together they’ll examine Velasco’s artistic practice, particularly his impressive panoramic views of the Valley of Mexico—home of modern-day Mexico City. Painted with exquisite detail, his works honor both the country’s rich historical heritage and the rapid modernization it underwent in the late 1800s.
Dexter Dalwood, based in Mexico City, undertook a 2017 residency in Oaxaca, where he created An Inadequate Painted History of Mexico, shown in the “Esto No Me Pertenece” exhibition at Centro de las Artes San Agustín and MUNAL during 2021 and 2022. His major solo museum shows include Kunsthaus Centre PasquArt, CAC Málaga, FRAC Champagne-Ardennes, and Tate St. Ives. Recent group exhibitions include “The Paradoxes of Internationalism” at Museo Tamayo; “You to Me, Me to You” at A4 Arts Foundation, “Modern Media Networks” at Tate Modern, “Hello World” at Hamburger Bahnhof, and “Michael Jackson: On the Wall” at the National Portrait Gallery and other venues. His first solo show with Lisson Gallery opened in London in September 2024.
Daniel Sobrino Ralston is the CEEH Associate Curator of Spanish Paintings at the National Gallery, London. He’s lectured and published widely on Spanish art from the 17th and 19th centuries, contributing to recent exhibition catalogues at the Fundación MAPFRE, Raimundo de Madrazo (2025); the Gallerie d’Italia, Velázquez. Un segno grandioso (2024); the National Gallery, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art (2023); and the Kimbell Art Museum, Murillo: From Heaven to Earth (2022). He studied art history at the University of British Columbia (BA) and Columbia University (MA, PhD).
Dalwood and Ralston were co-curators of the exhibition “José María Velasco: A View of Mexico,” featured at the National Gallery, London, from March to July 2025.