Exhibition On View

The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830-1930

March 22 to June 30, 2018

Over the course of a century of rapid urban growth, sociopolitical upheavals, and cultural transitions reshaped the architectural landscapes of major cities in Latin America. Focusing on six capitals—Buenos Aires, Havana, Lima, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago de Chile—The Metropolis in Latin America, 1830–1930, presents the colonial city as a terrain shaped by Iberian urban regulations, and the republican city as an arena of negotiation of previously imposed and newly imported models, which were later challenged by waves of indigenous revivals. Photographs, prints, plans, and maps depict the urban impact of key societal and economic transformations, including the emergence of a bourgeois elite, and extensive infrastructure projects, rapid industrialization, and commercialization.

This exhibition was co-curated by Idurre Alonso and Maristella Casciato and organized by the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.

Learn more about the exhibition.

The Visual Arts program boasts the longest-standing private space in the U.S. dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada; it has achieved a unique and renowned leadership position in the field, producing both historical and contemporary exhibitions. The Visual Arts program present three exhibitions annually, each accompanied by a series of public and educational programs featuring outstanding artists, curators, critics and scholars.

Explore our past exhibitions below, and view a timeline of Visual Arts exhibitions dating back to 1967.