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Built in an eclectic style the interior of this imposing palacio has a soaring staircase decorated with intricate wrought iron work. Glorious paintings adorn the building’s ceilings.

Painted at the height of his career, Miguel Cabrera used intense color to portray the theme of The Virgin of the Apocalypse triumphing over evil.

El Caballito or “The Little Horse,” Manuel Tolsá’s famous statue, is of King Carlos IV of Spain, dressed in Roman clothing astride his horse.

Following the War of Reform in 1861 the new government placed a cultural emphasis on the history of pre-Hispanic Mexico, and by 1893 ancient Mexico was being presented as having had a glorious past. This monumental sized painting by Leandro Izaguirre depicts the legend of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec Emperor, and his torture by the Spanish.

José María Velasco painted this scene directly from nature, a first for this skilled and highly acclaimed landscape artist.

Jesús F. Contreras was one of the first Mexican sculptors to embrace modernism. He studied in France for a time, and familiarized himself with the works of Auguste Rodin. Malgré Tout, a magnificent marble sculpture portrays a beautiful woman shackled and bound, still straining and yearning for freedom.

In this monumental work Alberto Fuster celebrates the years of peace Mexico enjoyed during the reign of Díaz by comparing Mexico to ancient Greece. Neo­Classical in style, the painting mimics the opaque colors found on Renaissance frescos.

Saturnino Herrán turned down a scholarship for study in Europe, choosing to remain in Mexico. In this masterpiece of Modernist Nationalism, he captures the unfolding of life. An old man, a youth, and a baby are travelling through life in a Xochimilco-style barge filled with marigolds, flowers traditionally associated with death.

Gerardo Murillo, best known as Dr. ATL, is one of the most important Mexican landscape artists. He developed Altcolors, a mixture of pigment and resin that he used on many different surfaces and especially for his landscapes. The Cloud was painted at the height of his artistic prowess.

In bright colors and exquisite detail, this painting by Ramón Cano Manilla depicts people in traditional dress, authentic buildings and landscape, and a hot-air balloon decorated in the National colors.