El Arte de la Canción at Museo Cabañas

The exhibition

El Arte de la Canción (The Art of Song) brings together 88 drawings in charcoal, graphite and ink, each inspired by a Mexican song. Colección Milenio Arte commissioned them to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico.

The format on the day of our visit was the best part: as you walked through the gallery, each work's song was playing. Seeing Eres, Kumbala or Coincidir turned into drawings, with the song in the background, is another way of listening to them.

Besides the drawings, the exhibition includes objects from legends of Mexican music, such as Jorge Mejía Avante's accordion and items from Rigo Tovar.

Our visit

We went on a Saturday between 12 and 1 p.m. There were few people: the event attendees and maybe another 60 visitors spread across a fairly large museum. The visit took us about two and a half hours.

We didn't use a guided tour or an audio guide; we relied on the information next to each work. What we liked most was that the QR code on each drawing's label takes you straight to the song on Spotify, and there was live music too. Beyond the exhibition there are other lovely works, the murals and the dome with Orozco's Man of Fire.

The only area for improvement was guidance: at the entrance we were told the ticket included a guided tour, but we didn't see anyone leading it.

Sources: AFAR (Man of Fire) and the official Museo Cabañas website (prices).

A bit of history

The building was commissioned by Bishop Juan Cruz Ruiz de Cabañas and designed by architect Manuel Tolsá. It was built between 1805 and 1810 as the House of Charity and Mercy, meant to shelter thousands of children. It served as an orphanage until 1980 and has been a cultural center since 1983.

Inside are the 57 frescoes José Clemente Orozco began painting in 1937. In 1997, UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site.

Source: México Desconocido (in Spanish).

Verdict

Worth the trip. A must-do cultural plan in Guadalajara: art, music and history in a single visit. I'd go back without a doubt, because the exhibitions change constantly; from what I heard, a few months ago they showed Diego Rivera's Vendedora de flores (1941), and I didn't get to see it.