WEBVTT

00:00:00.143 --> 00:00:02.893
(cheerful music)

00:00:06.490 --> 00:00:08.640
- [Speaker 1] We're looking
at a beautiful painting

00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:12.180
of an astounding cactus by
the great landscape painter,

00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:13.730
Jose Maria Velasco.

00:00:13.730 --> 00:00:17.000
And we're here in the National
Museum of Art in Mexico City.

00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.370
- [Speaker 2] The painting
that we're looking at

00:00:18.370 --> 00:00:21.430
is the famous "Candelabrum"
cactus from Oaxaca.

00:00:21.430 --> 00:00:24.210
This particular Candelabrum
cactus that Velasco

00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:28.240
has painted is near the town
of Tecomavaca in Oaxaca state.

00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:31.970
- [Speaker 1] It fills the
entire canvas, which is vertical,

00:00:31.970 --> 00:00:34.930
which is an unusual format
for a landscape painting.

00:00:34.930 --> 00:00:37.100
You can see that he's carefully studied

00:00:37.100 --> 00:00:40.300
the way that the light falls
on each of the branches

00:00:40.300 --> 00:00:41.470
of the cactus.

00:00:41.470 --> 00:00:43.950
- [Speaker 2] We know Velasco
saw this on his travels

00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:45.710
and he became fascinated by it.

00:00:45.710 --> 00:00:49.170
And so, returned to it and
did studies of the cactus

00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:51.720
to then create the painting
that we're seeing here.

00:00:51.720 --> 00:00:54.200
- [Speaker 1] And yet,
for all it's capturing

00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:57.010
perfectly of the light on the branches,

00:00:57.010 --> 00:01:01.900
it's also loosely painted in
some areas along the tree,

00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:03.960
especially on the shady side.

00:01:03.960 --> 00:01:05.760
Those purple-ish pinks.

00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.700
You can feel a love of the
Mexican countryside here.

00:01:09.700 --> 00:01:10.960
- [Speaker 2] Which is
something that we can see

00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:13.220
throughout his paintings
in the late 19th century,

00:01:13.220 --> 00:01:16.040
where there is this love
of landscape as a symbol

00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:17.900
of the national identity of Mexico.

00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:19.820
- [Speaker 1] He's included
a figure, so we have a sense

00:01:19.820 --> 00:01:23.360
of the enormous scale of
the Candelabrum cactus,

00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:27.210
and also the smallness
of man in relationship

00:01:27.210 --> 00:01:30.690
to the landscape, a sense
of the age of this tree

00:01:30.690 --> 00:01:32.900
that's reached this enormous height,

00:01:32.900 --> 00:01:35.530
and the many generations of human beings

00:01:35.530 --> 00:01:38.600
that have passed while
this cactus has endured.

00:01:38.600 --> 00:01:40.770
- [Speaker 2] Jose Maria
Velasco, as a painter,

00:01:40.770 --> 00:01:43.190
was doing many of these
different preparatory drawings,

00:01:43.190 --> 00:01:45.930
and was interested in
the scientific accuracy

00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:46.970
of his paintings.

00:01:46.970 --> 00:01:48.480
As we look around the gallery here,

00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.930
we can see numerous examples
of his studies of wildlife,

00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:55.160
of his studies of even
the pre-Hispanic past.

00:01:55.160 --> 00:01:57.560
- [Speaker 1] This interest in Mexico

00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:00.510
in his own time, but also
in Mexico looking back

00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:02.950
historically, archeological sites.

00:02:02.950 --> 00:02:06.500
There's a watercolor here
that he did of an Aztec pot.

00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:08.880
Although the subject matter is Mexican,

00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:12.750
to me these landscapes really
speak of the beauty of nature.

00:02:12.750 --> 00:02:14.230
- [Speaker 2] Endowing nature with this

00:02:14.230 --> 00:02:16.960
monumental, grandiose quality.

00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:19.710
(cheerful music)