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Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art
HomeExhibitionsPainted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art

Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art

Rotating three images of Mesoamerican statues

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s first presentation of Mesoamerican art in 40 years, Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art explores the relationships between color, the cosmos, and creation — both divine and artistic — in the region comprising much of modern-day Mexico and Central America. 

Effigy vessel of female figure
Female Effigy Vessel, Huastec, 900–1200 C.E. Ceramic, 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 8 inches (27.4 x 21.6 x 20.3 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Sequence in red of moon phases

A sacred spectrum 

Painted Worlds traces a color-coded journey through the story of creation: from birth to maturity to primordial darkness. Along the way, learning stations and multimedia experiences teach us about the sciences of color-making, interpret dialogues between Western and Indigenous practices, map the Mesoamerican idea of the cosmos, and what new international scientific research reveals about Indigenous knowledge and traditions.

Painted image on old paper of red warrior figure with colorful animals and patterns.

Living arts 

Spanning 3,000 years of Indigenous Mesoamerican art, Painted Worlds reveals how traditions continued from the pre-Hispanic past to today — often disrupted and changed by colonial forces. The contemporary Indigenous artists featured in this exhibition are in conversation with their ancestors, having maintained and revitalized traditional knowledge. 

A woman engages with a digital interactive screen within the gallery.

Selected artworks

Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Major loans courtesy of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico. In Kansas City, generous support provided by Lilly Endowment Inc., Paul DeBruce and Linda Woodsmall-DeBruce, G. Kenneth and Ann Baum Philanthropic Fund, Evelyn Craft Belger and Richard Belger, Nancy and Rick Green, Don Hall Jr., Shirley and Barnett Helzberg Jr., Neil Karbank and Gretchen Calhoun, Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts, the Campbell/Calvin Fund for Exhibitions, and the Henry & Marion Bloch Foundation Fund.

Gobierno de Mexico logo
Cultura Secretaria de Cultura logo.
INAH logo
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