With the 2019 Engage Art Contest underway, we’ve expanded our scope to include all of North America. To celebrate this expansion, we’ll be highlighting some impressive creations from those countries. Enjoy some beautiful creations from Mexico!

Museo Soumaya, Ciudad de México | Fernando Romero

The Museo Soumaya is not only a beautiful piece of art itself, but it also contains art! It’s a well-known museum located in the heart of Mexico City and includes over 50,000 works. Fernando Romero designed the building, which opened in 2011. By 2015, the number of visitors eclipsed 5 million, making it was the most popular private museum in the world.

Paricutín , ca. 1943 | Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl)

This painting, crafted by Gerardo Murillo, also known as Dr. Atl, depicts the famous cinder cone volcano in Michoacán, 200 miles west of Mexico City. The volcano famously erupted from 1943 to 1952. Gerardo loved the outdoors, particularly the study of volcanoes. He wrote a book about witnessing the eruption of the volcano Paricutin, where he was injured and had to have his leg amputated! Known not only as a prolific painter but also as a volcano expert, he received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor in 1956.

El Caballito | (Sebastián)

Now that’s monumental art! This towering sculpture in Mexico City is over 90 feet tall. Cabezo de Caballo (Horse Head) was dedicated in 1992 by sculptor Enrique Carbajal, known as Sebastián. Its nickname is El Caballito (Little Horse). Sebastián has more than 200 of his steel and concrete sculptures all over the world. He received his first award while still in school in 1965, placing first in the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas annual exhibition.

Mexico lindo y querido | Jorge Negrete

Although Jorge Negrete died in the 1950s, he is known as a brilliant musician and  still revered by the Mexican culture today. Often regarded as the second national anthem of Mexico, "Mexico Lindo y Querido," is a sincere serenade to the country of Mexico and speaks of pride for the beautiful country. Jorge enjoyed a successful career that included both music and film. He has an extensive list of movies that he either starred in or appeared in—44 films in all!

Viva La Vida | Frida Kahlo

Painted by famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Viva La Vida Watermelons is very popular and even inspired Coldplay's famous Viva La Vida song. For Frida, her painting symbolized life. She meant for it to inspire a celebration of life, even through strife and troubles. When she was 18, Frida was riding in a bus that collided with a trolley car. She was injured very badly—many shattered bones and pierced through with a metal rail—and nearly died. She was in pain for the next three decades. Frida created Viva La Vida, Watermelons just a few days before her death in 1954.

We can't wait to see what submissions to the Engage Art Contest come out of Mexico! For a full list of rules, please visit this page.

Get ready to Engage Culture, Engage Scripture, and Engage Art!