• It brings together more than 500 pieces by Pedro Friedeberg and is presented in three venues in San Miguel de Allende
• The inauguration will be on Saturday, October 10, 2026, with a tour in three acts through the Historic Center of the city
• Pedro Friedeberg. Hilarity and Melancholy will remain open until February 28, 2027, with free admission

The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), through the Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Center “El Nigromante”, will present Pedro Friedeberg. Hilarity and Melancholy, an exhibition that celebrates the life and career of the artist, who last July received a tribute at the Palace of Fine Arts.

“This tribute to Pedro Friedeberg recognizes a fundamental career for Mexican art and makes his work available to the public in three venues in San Miguel de Allende.

The collaboration between institutions and cultural spaces, together with free admission, strengthens access to a creation that has marked different generations,” said the Secretary of Culture of the Government of Mexico, Claudia Curiel de Icaza.

The exhibition is an initiative of INBAL, carried out in collaboration with the Pedro Friedeberg Foundation, the Casa Diana Gallery and Fomento Cultural Banamex, through Casa del Mayorazgo. The opening will take place on Saturday, October 10 and will be accompanied by a tour of the Historic Center of San Miguel de Allende, with three staggered openings in different venues that will allow the public to learn about different facets of the artist’s production.

The first act will begin at 12 noon at the Casa Diana Gallery (Recreo 48), with the Privacy and Elegance nucleus, which brings together works linked to the artist’s personal universe and to what was his family home. At 1:30 p.m., the tour will continue at the Casa de Cultura Banamex Casa del Mayorazgo de la Canal (Channel 4), where Líneas de fuga will address the geometry and perspective that characterized his production, through sculptural works and a selection of pieces. Finally, at 3 p.m., the tour will culminate at the Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Center “El Nigromante” (Hernández Macías 75), with Hilaridad y Melancolía, a nucleus that brings together contemporary graphic work, a recreation of his studio and pieces that he left unfinished, among other elements.

With a selection of more than 500 pieces made over seven decades of career, from the Pedro Friedeberg Foundation, the CAM and Saenger galleries, in Mexico City, and private collections, the exhibition proposes a journey through the complex and enigmatic universe of the artist, where converge, as curator Michel Blancsubé points out, architecture, literature, music, ornamentation, erudition, encyclopedism, symmetry, vanishing point and, above all, humor.

The exhibition aims to recreate the experience of visiting his home-workshop, that space where he painted, listened to classical music and read, letting the different arts dialogue in his mind to be captured on paper.

An artist who lived inside his work

The exhibition will place special emphasis on his pictorial and graphic production, accompanied by examples of his tireless creation of objects and furniture. Although it includes works from different stages of his career, the selection pays special attention to his last years of production, with text, geometry and perspective as the axes of a career characterised by constant exploration.

As a central part of the experience, the multidimensional Portal light installation will invite the public to approach Friedeberg’s creative universe through an immersive environment built from patterns, symbols, symmetries and visual elements present in his imaginary.

The exhibition will also include an intimate space prepared by his family, with photographs, letters, writings and video, which will allow you to approach personal aspects of the artist’s life in San Miguel de Allende. On display will be letters that Pedro Friedeberg wrote to close friends of San Miguel, photographs of the report on his house published in the magazine Casas y Gente, the video Música congelada (1998), from the series Los artistas por mismo, produced by the Latin American Institute of Educational Communication (ILCE), as well as collages of his family and professional life.

The room will recreate some elements of his personal space, such as the fireplace, furniture of his own creation and a representation of his studio, to bring the public closer to his creative process.

Pedro Friedeberg. Hilaridad y Melancolía will remain open from October 10, 2026 to February 28, 2027, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Center “El Nigromante” (Hernández Macías 75), the Casa de Cultura Banamex Casa del Mayorazgo de la Canal (Channel 4) and the Casa Diana Gallery (Recreo 48), in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato.

The exhibition will have a public program for all ages, which will include night tours within the framework of the Night of Museums. Admission to the venues and activities will be free.

To learn more about the exhibition and activities of the Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Center “El Nigromante”, you can consult its social networks: Instagram, @ccn, and Facebook, El Nigromante Cultural Center.

For school visits, pre-booking is required by emailing talleres.nigromante@inba.edu.mx.

Source (sp)