Spectacles of Power and Faith: Colonial South American Art from the Thoma Foundation
Aug 24, 2027 - Dec 19, 2027 | Temporary Galleries
Unidentified artist, Our Lady of Bethlehem of Cuzco, 18th century. Cuzco, Peru. Oil on canvas, 62 5/8 x 46 ½ in. Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, 2024.36. Photo: Jamie Stukenberg.
August 24,2027 – December 19, 2027
Temporary Gallery
Spectacles of Power and Faith celebrates the expressive power of colonial South American painting and the stories these vivid works tell about faith, family, creativity, and community. Drawn from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation’s renowned art of the Spanish Americas collection and organized by the Meadows Museum at SMU, Dallas, and the Foundation, the exhibition brings together more than sixty paintings created between 1600 and 1850 in present-day Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
Created by Indigenous American, European, and African artists working in South America’s vibrant cultural centers, these paintings reveal a rich artistic tradition shaped by the exchange of ideas, materials, and beliefs across continents. From luminous images of the Virgin Mary and beloved saints to intimate portraits and finely rendered paintings on copper, the exhibition showcases the extraordinary range and visual splendor of art produced in the Spanish Americas.
Spectacles of Power and Faith is organized around themes of devotion, identity, and daily life, inviting visitors to explore how art shaped both public and private experience. Together, these works offer a glimpse into a dynamic world where artistic innovation flourished, creating some of the most captivating images of the early modern era.
The Raclin Murphy Museum has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Thoma Foundation, beginning with Divine Illusions: Statue Paintings from Colonial South America, an exhibition organized in 2020 from the Foundation's rich holdings. Now, it is the final venue for this most recent traveling exhibition, which opened at the Meadows Museum in fall 2026 before being presented at Princeton University.
